


Cipher's House

by neyla9



Category: Gravity Falls, Gregory Horror Show
Genre: Dark Comedy, Horror, M/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-09-20 18:28:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 25
Words: 20,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9505364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neyla9/pseuds/neyla9
Summary: One day while walking back to his dorm, Dipper Pines suddenly finds himself inside a foggy, dark forest at night. He has no idea how he got there or when it happened, and he has no idea where he is.Luckily he finds a hotel nearby called "Cipher's House", and the host is more than happy to welcome this lost soul...





	1. Welcome to Cipher's House

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! In case you didn't know, I've hit a writer's block on the current chapter of Abducted. The story's not on hiatus, I'm still working on it, but this next chapter is really difficult to write, so it might take a while before it's finished^^;
> 
> In the meantime, I've recently gotten into Gregory Horror Show, and I decided to make a BillDip au based on it, as weird as that might seem.
> 
> Anyway, if you haven't seen GHS you might get a little lost, but I definitely recommend the show if you're a fan of horror or dark humor! There's three seasons and one half-length season with each episode being 2-5 minutes long, a manga, and a PS2 video game!
> 
> Still, if you want to know the premise, this is what I can reveal without spoiling too much: a person is walking through a foggy forest (in season 1 it's a man and in season 2 it's a woman, season 3 and the half season deviates from the formula) with no idea how they got there or what they're doing. They find a hotel in the distance called "Gregory House" and check in, then spend the rest of the series trying to check out without being killed by the hotel's many strange guests

_It’s so dark… Where am I? It looks like a forest, but… how did I get here? The last thing I remember is… Yes, it was the exam, so we got to leave early, but… it was definitely day when I left for my dorm, and the college campus isn’t that far away…_

Dipper was disoriented; he couldn’t understand how he gotten there or even when. The fog was so thick he could barely see the old trees that created two thick rows beside the small forest trail he was walking. Nothing in sight but trees and darkness.

His feet were aching and tired from all the walking, and he was beginning to think there wasn’t an end to this forest, when finally, in the distance, he saw a light. He started running, wanting to get closer to whatever it was as fast as possible.

He arrived at an old iron gate, almost five times his size, the walls surrounding the gate old and decrepit brick walls, and in big iron letters above the gate it said: “Cipher’s House”.

Pushing the old gate open, Dipper wandered a paved uneven trail to a huge, old house. Instead of a garden, the front yard was littered with dead trees and tomb stones, which managed to unnerve Dipper, but he hoped that whoever lived in the house could help him.

He knocked on the old house’s door, but he received no answer. Instead the front door slowly creaked open, revealing a dusty-looking reception area.

“Hello?” Dipper called out, but once again received no response. He stepped inside, softly closing the door behind him, and walked up to the reception desk, ringing the tiny bell there to signal his arrival. Nobody seemed to show up, and Dipper was beginning to think that no one was there, until he felt a hand grab his shoulder and turn him around.

“Oh, did I scare you?” the stranger smirked at Dipper. It was a young man, couldn’t be past his early thirties, with dark skin, thin blond hair, a startlingly blue eye, the other eye obstructed by a black eye-patch, and dressed in a formal suit. He was carrying a candle in his hand which managed to give off an impressive light, casting tall shadows around them. “Welcome to Cipher’s House. My name is Bill Cipher, and I am the owner of this establishment. I assume you are a poor, lost soul seeking shelter? Or perhaps you are simply tired and need rest… eternally.” Before Dipper had a chance to comment on the last part, his host chuckled and added: “Just kidding, of course. Let me show you to your room; we just got one made available.”

“Uh, I don’t have any money,” Dipper protested as Mr. Cipher grabbed a keychain full of keys of different sizes, shapes and colors.

“Oh, there’s no need to worry about that,” Mr. Cipher insisted and turned down a long hallway, beckoning Dipper to follow. “Here at Cipher’s House our prices are always fair. And the first night is always free… Of course, all of our guests eventually want to stay forever, but as I said, our prices are fair; even the world’s poorest man would be able to stay at my hotel permanently.”

They arrived at a door with the number 205 on it, and Mr. Cipher opened it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dipper believes he has found rest at this hotel, but he will discover a rude awakening just as that door opens.
> 
> Please leave a comment if you want to:3
> 
> On that note, I'll only be using two characters from Gregory Horror Show: Death and TV Fish. Death because the role he serves in GHS is to integral, and TV Fish because I needed someone that served the same purpose as it, and I didn't want to just make an OC who's a copy of TV Fish. That said, all the other guests will be OCs, but I promise that I did my best to make them as interesting/bizarre as the actual guests from Gregory Horror Show.


	2. Feeling Restless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper is led to his room in the hotel, but it seems like the previous occupant met with a gruesom fate...

_I should have known there was something wrong with that hotel from the moment I saw it… I probably did, but was so tired and confused that I just chose to ignore it. But I suppose it doesn’t matter now… One thing that does make me uneasy still… Cipher said that all his guests choose to stay permanently… so why had he recently gotten a room available? I hope it has nothing to do with the cemetery outside the hotel…_

Dipper looked around the room when he entered; it looked nice, if a bit shabby, but at least the bed looked soft, except… Blood. The bed sheets were drenched in blood and filled with holes… as if someone who had slept there got stabbed to death.

 

“Hmph! I thought the cleaning crew had made the bed after the last guest left,” Cipher grumbled, quickly picking up the sheets and folding them in his arms. “Our last guest forgot to lock the door,” he explained with a smile, as if the bloody sheets were only a minor mess. “It seems you will have to sleep without sheets tonight. Oh well, it could be worse,” Cipher chuckled and walked towards the door. “Do remember to lock your door before going to sleep; we wouldn’t want someone walking into your room during the night.”

 

And with that creepy warning, Cipher left, closing the door behind him. Dipper quickly locked the door, not caring if it had been a joke or not. He lied down on the barren bed, trying his damndest to fall asleep, but despite how tired his mind and body felt, it took a long time before he was overcome with sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's hard to be stuck in a restless dream that's difficult to awaken from. We can only hope our guest awakens from this nightmare before it's too late
> 
> Please leave a comment if you want to:3


	3. Mimi Headless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After an uncomfortable night, Dipper leaves his room to check out of the hotel. He meets one of the other guests at the hotel, and wishes he hadn't...

_I knew there was something wrong with the hotel, but… At worst I had thought the owner was a murderer, but even that would have been a relief compared to this. After what I saw today, I’m not sure if I’m completely sane…_

When Dipper woke up that morning, he was shocked to find that his bed now had sheets. He knew he had locked the door before going to bed, so how… He shook his head and got up from the bed to look out the window, hoping that seeing the outside area in daylight would help him identify where he was, only… it was still night. How long had he been asleep?

 

Dipper left his room planning to ask Mr. Cipher if he could borrow a phone, or even just be told where in the world he was, when in the hall someone bumped into him from behind.

 

There was a sound of something being dropped, followed by a young girl letting out a painful moan. Something rolled on the floor, rolling out between Dipper’s feet and stopping in front of him; it was the head of a young girl, staring up and blinking at Dipper.

 

Dipper let out a scream, running backwards to get away from the severed head, only to bump into someone. He turned around and saw that it was a body without a head.

 

“Hey!” the head called out. “I accidently dropped me when I ran into you! Could you give me back to my body?”

 

“H-how… y-you…” Dipper stuttered, unable to fully process what he was seeing.

 

“Ugh, never mind,” the head rolled its eyes before directing its attention to the headless body. “Hey! I’m over here!”

 

The body went in the opposite direction, the arms and hands fumbling around.

 

“No, you idiot! Here!” the head shouted. The body moved towards Dipper, and once it felt Dipper’s head, it began to pull. “Wrong head!”

 

Dipper tried to fight the body off, but it was surprisingly strong. He thought for a moment that the body would succeed in ripping his head off, when someone kicked the severed head down the hall. The body perked up, stopped ripping Dipper’s head, and began to fumble down the hallway, searching for the head.

 

“That was a close call,” Dipper looked up to see the smirking expression on Cipher’s face. “You almost fell victim to Mimi Headless. People always said she would lose her head if it wasn’t attached to her body, and it seems they were right. But it’s not that surprising; people at her age are expected to keep track of and remember so many things; it’s only natural that they would lose their heads.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so we meet our first guest; Mimi Headless. When there are so many things you're expected to keep track off, you end up losing the most important things, that's what happened to Mimi. Since her body lacks eyes and ears, whenever she loses her head, her body must rely on an unreliable connection to find it. Pray her body doesn't accidentially mistake your head for hers, or it will without hesitation pull your head off only to realize it wasn't hers.
> 
> Please leave a comment if you want to:3


	4. Rabbit Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While waiting in the reception to check out, Dipper encounters another guest staying at the hotel...

_I had a problem with anxiety when I was younger… Still do to some degree, but not as bad as when I was a kid. Just the thought of speaking to a stranger, or talking in front of a crowd, or even the idea of being stared at and judged by others…! It made my heart beat so fiercely, I thought it would leap right out of my chest…_

Somehow Cipher had left before Dipper had a chance to ask him about anything, leaving the young man with more questions than before.

 

He took a look around the reception desk, but found no phone, so he rang the bell and sat down in a nearby couch, waiting for Cipher to return.

 

In the distance down the hall, Dipper heard the sound of a door opening and closing, and then the sound of… bouncing? It sounded like someone was bouncing or skipping down the hallway. He got up from the couch, waiting expectantly at who it were, and out from the hallway came… a bunny. Or rather some kind of anthropomorphic bunny girl, only slightly smaller than Dipper.

 

The bunny girl was hopping happily into the reception room, but froze up with a scared expression when she saw Dipper, quickly averting her eyes from him.

 

“Is something wrong?” Dipper asked, stepping closer to the bunny girl; he could ask about her and the hotel later, right now she seemed to be in distress.

 

“U-uh…” the bunny girl stuttered with a light, squeaky voice, her entire body beginning to shake. “I… u-um…”

 

“Do you need any help?” Dipper asked her, trying to get a better look at her face, which wasn’t easy with how she kept trying to avert his eyes.

 

“I-!” the bunny girl gasped, like she was having a hard time breathing, her body shaking even more violently.

 

“Is there anything I can do to help?!” Dipper was starting to feel panicked not knowing how to help this poor girl.

 

Finally, the bunny girl’s eyes met his, her pupils shrank as her body stopped shaking for a moment, followed by a sound not unlike that of an exploding bomb just as her chest convulsed, and suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Dipper was covered from head to toe in blood, while the bunny girl’s body lay still on the floor with a big, gaping hole in her chest.

 

“Ah, I see you’ve met Rabbit Heart,” a voice said from behind Dipper. He turned around and found Cipher, standing there with the same calm smirk as always. “That poor girl,” he shook his head, but his smile remained. “As you’ve no doubt discovered, she has a rather severe anxiety disorder; she can’t even look someone in the eye without her heart exploding.”

 

“… She’s dead…” Dipper could only say, feeling like he was about to faint from what he had just witnessed.

 

“Oh, don’t worry, she’ll be fine,” Cipher assured him while picking up Rabbit Heart’s body and carrying her away. “We have a wonderful doctor staying in one of our rooms. Of course, he can only help her physically, not mentally. She should probably seek out some professional help for her disorder, but ironic enough, said disorder makes it impossible for her to ask for help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some people need help, but find themselves unable to seek it out; it's usually those people who need help the most. But how are you supposed to know that someone needs your help if they don't ask? And how can someone be expected to ask when merely looking into another person's eyes makes your heart beat with fear fast enough to explode? That is reality to Rabbit Heart.


	5. Croc Tub

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the previous meeting left Dipper drenched in blood, he seeks out a place where he can hopefully wash it off

_I was covered in blood… not even my own blood, but the blood of someone whose heart exploded because of anxiety. I just want to wash this blood away, but I fear I’ll never be able to wash away the image of that poor girl’s heart exploding out of her chest…_

After wandering the hotel’s halls for half an hour, the feeling of dried blood on his skin still reminding of what he had seen, Dipper finally found a bathroom; it looked much cleaner than anywhere else in the hotel, even if it only was a standard bathroom with a toilet, a sink and a tub.

 

Dipper quickly discarded his clothes and started to fill the tub with hot water from a faucet in the wall. After the tub was filled, Dipper got in, practically melting in the steaming water, and began to wash the blood off.

 

Once the blood was sufficiently removed, Dipper leaned back in the tub and relaxed, appreciating this first calm moment since he arrived at the hotel, only… something was off. The rim of the tub, which he swore was smooth before, now had these tiny nubs…

 

Dipper shook his head and told himself he was imagining things, probably due to all the stress he had gotten from this hotel, but… the nubs grew, longer and sharper, until they looked like teeth.

 

What happened next happened so fast that Dipper almost couldn’t comprehend; just as he decided not to stay in the tub, the tub started moving, one end of the tub folding backwards which, with the tooth-like nubs, looked like a gaping maw closing. Reacting purely on reflex, Dipper managed to pull himself out of the tub before it snapped shut, after which Dipper ran out of the bathroom shutting the door behind him.

 

“Oh my~” Dipper turned around and found Mr. Cipher leering at his naked body. “You probably shouldn’t be standing in the middle of the hallway looking so… wet and vulnerable.”

 

“Your bath tub tried to eat me!” Dipper gasped, still feeling the adrenaline from the encounter.

 

“My… bath tub?” Cipher looked at him confused before a look of realization came over his face. “Ah, you must have met Croc Tub. He is one of our guests, and that just so happens to be his room,” Cipher pointed at the door Dipper had exited out of, which, now that Dipper looked, did have a faded, barely noticeable number on it. “Like any crocodile, he waits patiently until his prey has lowered its guard, only to attack. After all, a predator must use every weapon in its arsenal if it wants to eat…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Predators come in all shapes and sizes, whatever look best suits their method of catching prey. Some predators hunt and chase, and mainly rely on speed and power. Some lie in wait, patiently anticipating the best moment to strike. Others lure in their victims, trick them into practically walking right into the predator's mouth...


	6. Saki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After an exhausting day, Dipper is forced to return to his room for the night. He can only hope he'll be able to leave tomorrow...

_I’m so tired… I know I was supposed to leave, but… I think I’m even more exhausted now than when I arrived. First thing tomorrow, I’m leaving… That is… if I even wake up tomorrow…_

Dipper returned to his room and lied down in the bed. At least he felt clean now, but he still couldn’t make sense out of anything in this hotel, and the owner just seemed to find everything completely normal. Maybe he really was going insane…

 

He couldn’t stay in this hotel much longer; first thing tomorrow, he would march towards the main entrance and leave, and if Cipher complained about the bill or whatever, Dipper didn’t care; he would not be staying here.

 

Sleep managed to reach him much quicker this time around, and he fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep, only to be awakened by… something.

 

His eyes were open, his body felt heavy and he couldn’t move it, and… something, something he couldn’t see, was weighting his chest down, making it difficult to breathe, and at the foot of his bed, someone stood, staring at him with glowing, red eyes.

 

Dipper tried his best to move, to call out for help, but he was unable to do anything but watch as the figure, a beautiful woman, crawled into his bed and sat down on his chest.

 

The woman let out a childish giggle at Dipper’s struggling, lowering herself to lie on top of Dipper and stared into his eyes. She licked her lips expectantly before grinning widely, revealing two rows of sharp, white teeth.

 

Dipper feared what she was going to do, but was saved from finding out the answer by the door opening and an angry Cipher stepping out.

 

“Saki!” he yelled at the woman, sounding almost like a parent. “I told you to leave this one alone!”

 

“I was hungry!” the woman pouted.

 

“We have other guests who would love your company, but this one isn’t yours,” Cipher grumbled, and the woman rose from the bed and left, stomping her feet in a childish manner. Cipher turned to Dipper with a smile on his face. “You must excuse Saki, she doesn’t always listen to what I say; one of many reasons why you should keep your door locked.”

 

“W…” Dipper took a deep breath and was relieved to find that he could move again. “What is she?”

 

“She’s my distant niece, and quite a bratty one at that,” Cipher complained. “But I promised her mother I would let her stay at my hotel…”

 

“What IS she?!” Dipper repeated, once again struck with fear.

 

“Oh why, she’s a succubus,” Cipher explained. “A demon known for stealing souls, only Saki prefers to devour her victims’ skin. The upside to the skin eating is that unlike a soul… skin grows back…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Saki would have enjoyed tearing the skin of that little human, but it seems her uncle wants this one for himself...


	7. Dr. Screwloose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Dipper tries to leave, he is intercepted by Cipher, who insists on giving Dipper a free health check at the hotel's doctor... What a nice guy!

_I barely slept last night… I couldn’t go back to sleep after being attacked by her… I need to get out of here!_

Dipper had no idea if it was morning or not; it was still pitch black outside! He knew he wasn’t in an ordinary hotel, he had known that for a while now, but he still couldn’t help applying logic to his situation.

 

He opened the door to his room, and glanced in both directions down the hall to make sure no guest, or the owner, was there.

 

Spotting no one there, Dipper exited his room, gently shutting the door behind him, and made his way to the reception area, though he didn’t make it very far before he felt someone grab his shoulder and turn him around.

 

“You don’t look very refreshed,” it was the owner, Cipher. Despite the fact that his choice of words hinted at concern, his tone and expression showed nothing but the same, only slightly veiled, delight as always. “Did you have trouble sleeping after meeting Saki?”

 

“I… I’m leaving,” Dipper said, knowing he didn’t sound very confident but still, he wanted to make his intentions known.

 

“LEAVE!?” Cipher’s eyes widened and he actually sounded panicked, is body even seized up a bit, before he calmed down slightly. “You can’t leave yet! N-not before… You need to see the hotel’s doctor!”

 

“Your hotel has a doctor?” Dipper frowned, taking a cautious step back.

 

“Yes, he is one of our guests here,” Cipher explained while he obviously tried to make his face return to its previous calm state. “You almost fell victim to Saki after all, and you don’t look too well now… Yes, a free visit to the doctor, that’s the least I can do to make up for my niece’s behavior~” Cipher nodded to himself and grabbed Dipper by the arm, forcing him back down the hall to another room.

 

The room was filled with strange machines, some of which looked like futuristic torture devices, shelves lined with various sharp tools, a metallic desk and chair, and what looked like a hospital bed.

 

Dipper was already beginning to freak out, and he didn’t even have a particular fear of doctor, but Cipher pulled him inside and forced him to sit down on the bed.

 

“The doctor will arrive in a moment~” Cipher said with a smirk before exiting the room.

 

After waiting a moment for Cipher to leave, Dipper leapt out of the bed and rushed to the door, only to find it locked. He could, however, hear someone talking on the other side, and judging from the voice, it was Cipher:

 

“I didn’t want to hurry things along like this, but he’s trying to leave!”

 

“He must have an awfully strong will,” another voice responded. It sounded like a middle-aged or elderly man.

 

“That’s what worries me,” Cipher replied, sounding frustrated. “Of course it’s already too late, he can’t escape, but… I don’t wanna risk it. His willpower makes me worried.”

 

“Oh, there is no need to worry~” the man chuckled. “Will can be broken quite easily once you know how the person ticks.”

 

The door opened, revealing Cipher and the man he had been talking to; the man looked old, wore glasses with completely white lenses that obscured his eyes, had blue-purplish skin that looked and smelled like it was rotten, and most shocking of all, he had a screw the size of Dipper’s arm stuck through his head.

 

“Ahh, so you are my new patient?” the man said with a smile that revealed a mouth full of yellow and black teeth.

 

“This is Doctor Screwloose,” Cipher explained to Dipper.  “He will be taking care of you now~”

 

The doctor and Cipher slowly stepped closer to Dipper, forcing the young man to step back until he bumped into the hospital bed.

 

“Now, let’s see what I can do with you,” the doctor pondered as he grabbed  Dipper’s left arm and examined it with his gaze, slowly moving from the shoulder down to the fingers.

 

“Do be careful with him, Doctor~” Cipher laughed before leaving the room. “I want him back alive!”

 

“That won’t be an issue, Bill,” the doctor turned to the shelf and came back with a big hammer. He took the arm he had examined and forced it down on a nearby table. A lock mechanism attached to the table closed around Dipper’s wrist preventing him from moving it. “It’s a shame that I won’t be able to experiment on you… Humans make for the perfect blank canvas… But Bill was very particular about it, so I’ll just be giving you a standard health examination.” The doctor raised his hammer and Dipper realized, much to his horror, what the doctor was going to do. “First, we’ll need to test your reflexes!”

 

The doctor slammed the hammer down on Dipper’s fingers, a loud crack signaling that some of his bones got broken. Dipper let out a huge scream, tears starting to fall from the pain.

 

“Ahh, that was good,” the doctor said satisfied. “You even have a healthy set of lungs from what I can hear! Now I need to examine your pulse…”

 

As the doctor walked by Dipper to grab another instrument, Dipper used his legs to grab the doctor and keep him trapped.

  
“H-hey! What are you doing!?” the doctor yelled, dropping the hammer on the floor.

 

Dipper didn’t respond. As the doctor flailed and fought to free himself, Dipper used his right hand to grab the nearest thing he could use as a weapon; the screw inside the doctor’s head. Luckily the screw was loose, so it didn’t take much effort to get it out, but before Dipper had a chance to use the screw to threaten the doctor, blood began oozing out of the two holes in the doctor’s head and he collapsed on the spot.

 

Taking a few deep breaths to recover, Dipper used the giant screw to force the lock mechanism open. Then before leaving, he found some bandages and used them to wrap up his broken fingers, and with that, he left the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cipher's impatience and wish to hurry things along will be his undoing; poor, lost souls need time...
> 
> Please leave a comment if you want to:3


	8. TV Fish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper tries to escape the hotel through the front door, but he finds it locked. While running away from Cipher, he encounters another guest staying at the hotel...

_I seriously doubt that man was a doctor… at least not a medical doctor, hehe- What am I doing!? This is no time for jokes! I need to get out of here! Cipher said something about it being too late… but he’s gotta be lying! I have to get back, I need to get home! Back home to- Oh, god… I can barely remember the faces of my family… the only face I can clearly remember is my sister’s, and that’s probably only because we’re twins…_

Dipper ran down the hall as fast as he could, ignoring the way his lungs screamed for air and his limbs begged for rest. He had to get to the front door! He had to escape this hell!

 

Nobody was in the reception area, which came as a relief to Dipper. He rushed to the entrance, pulled on the door… and it didn’t budge. He tried again… nothing. He tried pushing the door… nothing. The door would not open!

 

“Y-you’re back!” Dipper turned around and spotted Cipher, who looked awfully surprised at seeing Dipper. “I had… expected your health check to take longer… Are you trying to leave? Perhaps what you truly need is a refreshing nap in your room?” Cipher started stepping closer to Dipper. “Those health checks can really take the life out of you!”

 

Dipper ran. He ran down the hallway, faintly hearing Cipher yelling behind him, but he kept running. After turning a corner, he opened the nearest room door and dived in, leaning against the door and gasping for air afterwards. He heard Cipher running and yelling from behind the door, moving past him as he did so.

 

Dipper let out a sigh of relief before examining his current whereabouts; there were no furniture, and it was pitch black except for a faint blue glow in the distance. Dipper moved closer, and picked up on something that sounded like TV static.

 

The glow and static came from… a fish. Well, it was a ghostly fish with a visible skeleton, and a TV for a head, swimming through the air like it was water. It didn’t really seem to notice Dipper as it swam past him, and Dipper was fine with leaving it alone, until he heard something from the TV that wasn’t static:

 

“Dipper!”

 

He knew that voice! No doubt about it, that was his sister!

  
“Mabel!” he called out following the fish as it swam out the room. The fish turned around, perhaps to show Dipper the screen, while it continued swimming backwards. “Mabel! I’m right here!”

 

There was a faint bit of static on the screen, but he could just make out his sister’s smiling face.

 

“I met a guy today, his name is-“ the screen turned to static before another image was shown, this much more distorted, but it seemed to be a man and a woman. “Straight A’s again- We’re so proud of y- Our little geniu-“

 

More static appeared as the screen switched back to Mabel, only this time, she was harder to make out from the static.

 

“Dipper- Did you forget-“ static appeared again, only to disappear to reveal a clear image of Cipher, smirking at him. “I see you’ve met TV Fish. You can’t trust the images it just showed you; those are merely your own memories. And after all… most memories humans have are fabricated, lies created from your own mind. And if the past is only an illusion created by the present, isn’t it only logical to focus on the future?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Memories fade or memories change. But while the human mind may be unreliable, sometimes those distorted memories are better than the real ones...


	9. The Silk Worms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While looking for another way out of the hotel, Dipper discovers the basement. Hoping that the basement has another door leading outside, Dipper decides to explore it...

_What do you do when the only way out you know of is blocked? Do you try in vain to find another escape? Or do you just give up?_

Dipper was walking further down the hall. He hoped he didn’t run into Cipher or any of the other guests, but he had to explore the hotel. If the entrance was locked, at least for the moment, he had to find another way out. He didn’t like that he was walking deeper into the hotel, further away from the only sure exit, but there was no other option if he wanted to escape.

 

It did seem like the hotel had an outside area, but it was in the middle of the hotel, cut-off from the rest of the outside world by the building, so he ignored that for now. If he became desperate enough, he would maybe decide to dig a tunnel from the outside area to escape the hotel, but at the moment, he’d try to find another way.

 

Finally, after doors upon doors, the hallway came to an end in two stair cases; a half landing staircase that led up, most likely leading to more rooms, and a normal straight staircase that went down, probably to some kind of basement.

 

While escape through either option seemed low, there was at least a possibility, however small, that the basement had a second door that led outside, so that’s the one Dipper chose.

 

The stairs creaked under his weight, revealing that they weren’t used often. It got darker and colder as Dipper descended the staircase, until he finally took the final step and found himself in absolute darkness. He wandered around, arms fumbling in the darkness, trying to find a wall or something to follow, but he only managed to bump his legs into a few boxes.

 

Dipper marveled at how big the basement was as he walked; it seemed to be even bigger than the hotel’s ground floor!

 

Suddenly, his hand touched something smooth and sticky. He didn’t know what it was, but he tried to dry it off into his pants, when he sensed something move. Dipper’s lack of sight and the overall silence in the basement made the tiniest sound apparent, including the scurrying noise that Dipper could hear, but he didn’t start to panic until he felt something crawl up his legs… several somethings in fact.

 

He tried to shake whatever it was off, tried to fend them off with his hands, but whatever it was attached themselves to his hands, and that’s when Dipper felt that the unknown creatures were excreting something; that same smooth sticky substance from before!

 

The creatures wrapped the substance around his ankles and arms, and continued to wrap Dipper in it. A nearby light bulb was turned on, temporarily blinding Dipper before he was able to see what was attacking him; hundreds of small, white worms were trapping him in a silk-like cocoon, and he still couldn’t stop it, as nearly his entire body was wrapped now; everything but the head, which it seemed like the worms were gonna fix.

 

“Well, isn’t this interesting?” Dipper spotted Cipher, walking towards him with the same smirk on his face as always. “Looks like you’ll be a beautiful butterfly soon~”

 

“Help me!” Dipper shouted as the worms were starting to wrap his head into the cocoon.

 

“I see you’ve met the Silk Worms,” Cipher chuckled. “We keep them in the basement because they eat all the rats. Of course, they don’t mind a bigger meal~ Oh, but you really do look like a butterfly cocoon now. It’s kind of odd, isn’t it? Humans often use the caterpillar to butterfly analogy when describing positive change or maturity in someone, but few humans would call gorging yourself, doing nothing but sleep, and shutting yourself off from the rest of the world positive growth…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personal growth and selfcare can come in many different shapes and sizes, and sometimes the most unconventional methods are also the most effective.


	10. The Unaccountable Teacher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper wakes up after having fainted inside the cocoon, and finds himself in a classroom, still inside the hotel...

_I was suffocating inside that cocoon, unable to breathe… I guess I must have passed out from lack of oxygen… I honestly hadn’t expected to wake up, and certainly not where I did…_

Dipper was awoken by the sound of something flat and hard hitting him over the head. He shot up, his first thought being about how much that just hurt, the second thought wondering what he was doing sitting down, and the third was an observation that a pair of narrow frame glasses and a wooden paddle were floating in front of him in the air.

 

“No sleeping in class!” a shrill woman’s voice said while the paddle was waved around in front of Dipper.

 

Dipper gave the room he was currently in a glance, and it looked like a Victorian classroom. A loud smack brought Dipper’s attention back to the floating paddle, which had just been brought down into the table he was sitting at.

 

“Stay focused!” the woman’s voice shrieked while the glasses moved closer to Dipper.

 

Dipper took a guess that whoever was talking to him, it was another hotel guest, and one who was possibly invisible at that.

 

“Uh, miss?” Dipper mumbled with a cough to get the woman’s attention.

 

“No talking!” Dipper was hit over the head with the wooden paddle. He grabbed his head at the pain brought on by the hit, moaning slightly as his head throbbed. “Today, you are going to learn how to breathe under water.”

 

Dipper was about to protest, but his aching head made him decide not to. He was grabbed his hair and pulled up to the blackboard, where a barrel filled with murky water that smelled of salt stood.

 

“I am now going to put your head under the water,” the woman said, her previous shrill tone replaced with a sadistic and low one. “If you manage to survive one hour, you pass! If you drown, you fail.”

 

“I can’t breathe underwater!” Dipper finally shouted in a panicked voice while he struggled to get away. “That’s impossible!”

 

“Well, then I guess you’ll just fail!” the woman laughed and dunked Dipper’s head into the water.

 

The water was cold and stung his eyes. He tried to hold out, tried to somehow get free, but his lungs were burning for air and he couldn’t prevent his body from trying to take a deep breath, only to have his lungs filled with saltwater.

 

Just as he started fearing his consciousness would slip, he was let go, and he took his head out of the barrel, coughing up the water he had inhaled. After a couple of coughs, he noticed that the invisible woman’s glasses lied broken on the floor, and in front of him, wielding a now broken wooden paddle, stood Cipher smirking at him.

 

“Is it just me, or does our society expect more and more out of our students?” he shrugged and dropped the paddle. “You may be alive right now, but you still failed the test, which _will_ affect you for the rest of your life…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Unaccountable Teacher is known for her more... bizarre curriculum. Most people would ask why she hasn't been fired yet. But nobody realizes that she's just doing her job. After all, it's not her job to create the curriculum, she's just teaching it as she's been told...
> 
>  
> 
> Please leave a comment if you want to:3


	11. The Heart of a Broadway Star

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper continues to search the hotel for an exit, and he finds a theater hall that seems abandoned at first...

_I thought for sure I was going to drown… I can still taste the seawater in the back of my mouth. I can’t figure out Cipher’s intentions; he has put me in harm’s way, on purpose, multiple times, but he’s also saved me plenty of times... in fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if he was the one who freed me from the cocoon, but also the one who placed me in the classroom…_

 

After leaving the… classroom, Dipper found himself wandering around the hotel again. He didn’t know where he was exactly, but he assumed he was at one of the upper floors, which meant he had to find the stairs.

 

He walked through the hallway for a while, checking behind every door that didn’t have a number on it. Most of them were locked, and the only two that weren’t were cleaning closets, both of which lacked any soap or cleaning products, but did have many bottles of rat poison.

 

Before Dipper was able to find the stairs, he came across set of red velvet doors with shiny golden doorknobs. It looked important, a kind of place filled with secrets. Despite his better judgment, Dipper opened the door and looked inside.

 

It was a theater; rows upon rows of seats with soft, red upholstery, high ceiling with a dusty chandelier hanging from it, balconies with even more seats, and a huge stage with red curtains closed.

 

Dipper stepped inside, carefully walking past the many rows of seats towards the stage. He was so focused on the stage that he didn’t even see that someone was sitting in one of the seats, nor that said someone stretched a leg to the side with the intent of tripping Dipper.

 

Dipper fell flat on his face, but was quick to recover, wanting to find out who had tripped him.

 

“Cipher!” Dipper shouted frustrated, jumping to his feet.

 

“Shh,” Cipher shushed him, smirk still in place. “The show is about to start…” Cipher patted the seat beside him, a clear invitation for Dipper to sit down.

 

Dipper had a bad feeling about this, he knew something bad was going to happen, that wasn’t even a maybe anymore, but on the other hand, whenever something bad did happen, Mr. Cipher was the one who intervened and saved Dipper. Maybe it would be best to sit beside him.

 

Having made up his mind, Dipper reluctantly sat down beside Cipher, gripping the chair’s armrest in anxious anticipation. The approaching dread of knowing some terrible event was creeping closer and closer was unbearable. It was in these moments of confusion and fear that he missed his family the most, especially his sister…

 

Dipper felt a warm hand placed on top of his, giving it a gentle squeeze, and despite knowing whose hand it was, Dipper would take any kind of comfort at this point in time.

 

The curtains were pulled aside, revealing a guest from the hotel Dipper recognized; Rabbit Heart.

 

Dipper shot up from his seat and tried to run away, but Cipher kept holding on to his hand and forced him to sit back down.

 

“Don’t you think that’s a bit rude?” Cipher scolded him playfully. “Rabbit Heart’s biggest dream is to be an actress, and she wants to perform for us.”

 

“But I know what’s happen when she-“ Dipper was interrupted by the sound of someone hyperventilating.

 

Looking up at the scene, Dipper saw that Rabbit Heart was staring directly at them, chest heaving with each of her breaths. Her eyes were wide, Dipper could practically see the sweat dripping from her forehead, and then-

 

Dipper felt something smack him in the face before landing into his lap. He was covered in blood, so was Cipher, and in his lap laid the still-beating heart of Rabbit Heart, who was lying unmoving on the stage with a gaping hole in her chest.

 

Dipper was temporarily distracted from the organ on his lap, by the sound of Cipher applauding.

 

“ _Why are you clapping!?_ ” Dipper’s voice was almost screeching.

 

“Well, she did really put her heart into that performance,” Cipher chuckled. “It’s such a shame that her… disability prevents her from achieving her dream, don’t you think?”

 

Dipper didn’t respond. He stared down on the still beating heart in his lap, unsure of what he was supposed to do with it.

 

“Oh, but I’m sure all she needs is more training,” Cipher continued. “Disabilities are _so_ easy to overcome you know…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "You just need to push yourself harder" you might have heard. "You need to try more" some people will say. Rabbit Heart took these words to heart and decided to do what they told her and finally fulfill her dream! Too bad most people don't know what they're saying when they tell you you're not trying hard enough...


	12. Squidtopus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After his second encounter with Rabbit Heart, Dipper needs to find someplace where he can wash the blood off without almost getting eaten...

_I was covered in blood once again… I really don’t like saying it like that, it makes it sound so mundane… This time though, I had no idea where to go to get it rinsed off; I am NOT going back to that Croc Tub. But then again, this time I’m not the only one who’s covered in blood…_

Dipper stared at Cipher as they left the theater room. Cipher had simply just taken Rabbit Heart’s heart and thrown it onto the stage, and then left for the exit. Dipper had followed him, since there was only one way out anyway, and Dipper didn’t want to be alone with a (kind of) corpse.

 

“So, uh, where can we get the blood washed off?” Dipper asked carefully.

 

“Hm?” Cipher looked at him confused at first, but then his eyes lit up. “Don’t worry about that! My hotel has its very own indoor spa! Follow me~”

 

Dipper didn’t really feel like he had a choice. He followed Cipher down the hall until they arrived at two staircases, one leading up and one leading down. They took the one leading down, which led them to another staircase leading down, and then they were back on the ground floor.

 

Cipher walked towards the door leading outside, then walked across the outside area to another door, which led them to some kind of changing room.

 

The room was warm, like a changing room at a swimming pool. The room was also filled with steam which made it somewhat difficult to see, but Dipper could still see it when Cipher started undressing in front of him.

 

“ _What are you doing!?_ ” Dipper screeched, quickly covering his eyes.

 

“Come now, it’s a changing room,” Cipher chuckled. “We’re both men here, are we not?”

 

Dipper didn’t want to respond to that; were it anyone else, then he could agree that he was overreacting, but not with Cipher! Still, Dipper lowered his hands from his eyes, only catching a glance of Cipher’s naked body, before his host had gone out through a door.

 

Sighing to himself, mostly in relief, Dipper undressed and grabbed a towel from a nearby rack to cover his own nude form, before he followed Cipher through the door.

 

The first thing that greeted Dipper on the other side of the door was the smell; somewhat similar to chlorine, but stronger and more foul. The next thing was the water in the huge pool and extraordinarily big spa basin; a murky, oozing dark green, the liquid boiling judging from the many bubbles in both the basin and the pool.

 

Cipher was sitting shoulder-deep in the spa basin; eye closed and looking thoroughly relaxed. Dipper didn’t want to be close to Cipher, not when he was so literally naked and vulnerable, so he walked towards the pool instead.

 

“I wouldn’t jump in the pool if I were you~” Cipher teased. Dipper glanced at his host, whose eye was still closed. Dipper decided that it didn’t matter whether he chose the pool or spa basin; something terrible was still going to happen! So he just decided on the pool.

 

Dipper threw his towel on the floor and jumped into the pool; the water(?) was surprisingly cool, pleasant even. He stayed close to the ladder, wanting only to be in the pool for as long as necessary, when he felt something get wrapped around his ankle. At first he hoped the pool was just so dirty that it had seaweed growing on the bottom, but that hope was quickly dashed when whatever had him, pulled him under.

 

With a burst of adrenaline, Dipper managed to fight the pull and quickly get his head above the water again. He grabbed the ladder and used whatever strength he had in his arms to pull himself out of the pool, but he soon felt more appendages wrap themselves around both of his legs, and whatever was grabbing him breached the surface.

 

It was a dark reddish purple color, and Dipper first thought it was a giant octopus, but the amount of arms the thing had, plus the shape of its head, made him wonder if it was a squid.

 

“Oh, I was afraid this would happen,” Cipher said, but did not seem scared at all. “This is the Squidtopus; he lives here in the pool, since we don’t have a room to accommodate him yet.” While Cipher was talking, the tentacles around Dipper wrapped themselves higher and higher, until they reached his torso. “He does have a particular love for cute things though. Don’t worry, he won’t kill you! He’ll just pull you under to pet and play with you until you pass out from lack of oxygen. Or maybe he’ll let you get back up a couple of times to get more air before pulling you back down. Have fun!”

 

That’s all that Dipper heard before he lost the battle with the giant cephalopod and got dragged under. The water stung his eyes, forcing him to keep them shut, leaving the only clue to what was going on the sensation of multiple tentacles stroking his back, arms, face, and hair, the suction cups painfully dragging his skin and probably leaving marks, as well as pulling his hair.

 

The worst part of the experience, however, was the way his lungs screamed for air, and how his body instinctively fought in vain to get back to surface…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Humans' obsession with cute things is quite odd; our love for the cute and adorable stem from our instincts to care for our young, but said instict extends to other lifeforms too, including the ones that don't want it and are, quite frankly, terrified of our need to cuddle and coo at them just because we find them cute


	13. Hazy Memories and Alcohol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper finds a bar at the hotel, with a familiar bartender there...

_I think I understand Cipher’s motivation now; he doesn’t want me to die, he wants me to suffer. The only reason I can think of why he would want that, is that he’s clearly sadistic, but… I’m starting to fear something else… am I already dead? Is this place hell? Did I somehow die on my way back from college and that’s why I’m here? No, I can’t think that! This place might be supernatural, but it is not hell. If I was already dead, there would be no need for Cipher to save me all the time. I am still alive… for now…_

Dipper had woken up back in his hotel room, fully dressed and dry. Surprisingly enough, he was actually relieved to be back in his room. The room made him feel safe, and he was very tempted to just go back to sleep… But he couldn’t do that! He had to find a way out of the hotel!

 

He rose from his bed and headed out the door and down the hall. He reached the reception area to find that Cipher wasn’t there. He checked the entrance door again, but no luck; it still didn’t budge.

 

There had to be some other way out of the hotel! Dipper kept telling himself that, even if an ever-growing part of him didn’t believe it. He began wandering the hotel again, searching for anything; an exit, a clue, whatever, he didn’t care anymore; he just needed something, some kind of progress!

 

After walking around for what felt like hours, Dipper found himself in some kind of bar area; it looked for all intents and purposes like a normal bar, complete with a broken down jukebox and torn up pool table.

 

Behind the bar table stood Cipher himself, cleaning a glass like an actual bartender.

 

“Welcome,” Cipher smiled at him as friendly as was probably possible for the man. “Have you come here to drown your sorrows, cope with your loneliness, or maybe escape from your nagging wife?”

 

“First of all, I’m not married,” Dipper retorted, sitting down on one of the barstools. “Second of all, I’m only twenty, so I can’t drink alcohol. And third of all, most people go to bars to socialize, not for all that depressing crap you just said.”

 

“How would you know? This is the first time you’ve been to a bar,” Cipher smirked in patronizing manner. “But you have a point; a lot of college students have fun at bars thanks to fake IDs. Of course, some prefer to stay back home and study, right?”

 

Dipper’s eyes widened. Cipher had to be speaking in generalizations! He couldn’t be talking about Dipper! How would he have known!?

 

“Of course, in most places in the world, the drinking age is lower,” Cipher pushed a martini glass filled with a pink liquid in front of Dipper. “I won’t tell anyone if you don’t~”

 

“No way,” Dipper shook his head profusely. “That stuff is definitely poisoned. It’s gonna make me barf my insides out, or give me a headache that makes me repeatedly hit my head against the wall.”

 

“You mean like all other alcohol?” Cipher smirked before pouting exaggeratingly. “I can’t believe you won’t try my drink; I made it especially for you~”

 

“I don’t care!” Dipper yelled angrily. “Something bad is gonna happen if I drink that; I know it!”

 

“You could make the same argument for every other decision you make in life,” Cipher retorted before his smirk return to his face. “But of course, you aren’t the type to take chances, right? Always living life in the safe zone, stuck in the monotony of life… I guess most people never really learn to take control of their lives either.”

 

“I am in perfect control of my life,” Dipper snarled.

 

“Which is why you’re still here I’m sure.”

 

Dipper wasn’t sure if Cipher was referring to the bar or the hotel itself, but the guy still managed to piss Dipper off. He knew he was playing right into Cipher’s hand, but by now he was willing to do anything to shut Cipher up.

 

He grabbed the martini glass and downed the alcohol; the pink liquid had bittersweet taste to it and felt kind of fizzy, almost like a soda.

 

As soon as Dipper had processed the taste and texture of the drink however, he fell to the floor, the world spinning around him.

 

“Oh no, seems like it was too strong for you,” Cipher chuckled. “Oh and by the way, there’s no need to poison alcohol; alcohol already is poison.”

 

Those were the last words Dipper heard before passing out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a widespread belief that if alcohol was discovered today, it would be an illegal substance, which makes sense; it kills more people a year than some illegal substances. How old should you be before you can reasonably pour poison into your body?
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks for reading:3 I'll be uploading chapters in parts of three from now on. I hope you've enjoyed the story so far! Please leave a comment if you want to, I really appreciate it:3


	14. Oni-san & Door of Destiny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper wakes up and finds himself somewhere that doesn't look anything like the hotel. He thinks he might be free, but soon finds that there are other dangers around...

_Why did I have to drink that!? Why did I let myself get tricked like that?... Because I wanted to prove he was wrong, that he didn’t know as well as he thought. I’m still freaked out by that; how did he know those things about me!?_

When Dipper awoke, the first thing he noticed was the hard surface he was laying on, then a cool breeze. He hesitated to open his eyes, barely willing to even hope. He sat up, carefully opening one eye and almost got blinded by the sharp sunlight. Sunlight! He hadn’t seen sunlight since he arrived at the hotel! He opened both eyes and looked around; he was definitely outside!

 

It looked like he was in the mountains, on a flat road that seemed to lead around the mountain he was currently on, all the way to the top and back to the ground.

 

Dipper felt like he could almost cry! He was finally out of the hotel! Sure, he had no idea where he was, how he got there, or how to get back home, but none of that mattered now. What mattered was that he was finally free and never had to see Cipher again!

 

“I can’t believe it!” Dipper laughed out loud in relief, his voice creating an echo through the mountains. “I’M FINALLY FREE!!!” he screamed, followed by the echoes repeating his words. However, once those echoes died down, he heard a low growling sound. Next, he felt the ground shake under his feet, as if something big and heavy was approaching him.

 

Dipper looked around the corner of the mountain and saw a huge, red creature carrying a club as big as its arm over its shoulder. It had three small, dark eyes, along with three tiny horns protruding from its head, several long, yellow teeth jutting out of its mouth, and clad in what looked like a tiger skin loincloth.

 

The creature saw Dipper and roared, before it began to charge towards him at a surprising speed. Dipper’s eyes widened as the creature got closer, and he began to run as fast as he could.

 

Dipper ran along the path, descending the mountain while the creature chased him, once in a while letting out a roar that shook Dipper to his core.

 

The path ended up leading through a ravine to a dead end, with exception for big door, resembling the ones in the hotel, only instead of a room number, it had “Door of Destiny” written on it, and it seemed to lead nowhere; it just stood there in the middle of the ravine.

 

“Sure seems like you’re in quite the pickle, kid,” a voice coming from the door said.

 

“You can talk!?” Dipper exclaimed, wondering why he was still surprised by the weirdness he saw.

 

“Well, yeah, but that shouldn’t really be your biggest concern right now,” the door responded.

 

“Am I still in the hotel?” Dipper asked.

 

“Look, kid, yeah, but the big issue here is that you disturbed Oni-san.”

 

“Oni-san?” Dipper looked back and saw that the monster was still chasing him.

 

“He prefers to be alone and gets super angry if he sees anyone,” the door explained. “He usually eats the people that bother him, that is if the avalanches don’t kill them first.”

 

“Avalanches?” Dipper asked just as the entire ravine began to shake. The vibrations from Oni-san’s steps and the loud sound of his roars were causing an avalanche! Rocks and boulders were already falling all around him! “Can you get me out of here!?”

 

“See, the thing is, I can only lead you to your destiny,” Dipper had a feeling that if the door could shrug, it would.

 

“That’s good enough!” Dipper insisted.

 

“Are you sure?” the door asked. “Destiny is a funny thing; it’s uncontrollable, unavoidable, and most people aren’t happy to learn what their destiny is…”

 

“I don’t care! I just don’t want to die!”

 

Dipper flung the door open, the door showing nothing but an empty blackness, and jumped inside, making sure to shut the door as he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most people somewhat believe in destiny, that there are certain things that are just meant to happen, but that we are the ones who make things happen. Some people believe in destiny to the point that they believe free will is an illusion, that everything has already been decided before we leave the womb. Then there are those who do not believe in destiny at all and believe that everything depends on their own choices and decisions, but if that's the case, where will the door send Dipper?


	15. Rocking Horse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper is confronted by a familiar face and taken for a ride...

_The door said it would lead me to my destiny… I don’t really believe in destiny, but anywhere would be better than the situation I was in… At least, that’s what I thought, but then… **he** showed up…_

Dipper landed on a grassy field. After taking a moment to collect himself, he looked around; the Door of Destiny was nowhere to be found, and he was currently inside a beautiful forest. The air smelled fresh and clean, the wind was mild… but there was still something odd about the place… Aside from the wind rustling through the leaves, and Dipper’s breathing of course, there were no sounds. No birds singing, no animals rummaging around, nothing.

 

He began to walk through the forest, searching for something, anything! But it seemed like he was truly, utterly alone in the forest…

 

After wondering for what felt like hours however, he finally heard something; the sound of galloping hooves, like that of a horse. It grew closer and closer, until two horses zipped past him only to turn around and stop in front of him, and Cipher was riding one of them.

 

“Oh! What an unexpected coincidence to run into _you_ here!” Cipher smirked brightly. In one of his hands he held the reins of the horse he was riding on, while the other held a rope tied to the reins of the other horse.

 

“You’re a terrible liar,” Dipper scoffed. “I know you’re the one who put me in those mountains! _And_ you probably _planned_ for me to end up here too!”

 

“Whatever gave you that idea?” Cipher continued smirking while getting down from the horse.

 

“We’re still in the hotel, aren’t we?” Dipper asked, ignoring Cipher’s attempt at feigning innocence.

 

“Fancy a horse ride?” Cipher seemingly ignored Dipper as well, as he placed both hands on Dipper’s shoulders and pushed him towards the other horse; it was dark, had a crazy look in its eyes, and did not look like a horse you wanted to ride.

 

“No way!” Dipper shouted trying to get away, but Cipher managed to pick him up before he could run.

 

“Come on, you know what they say~” Cipher chuckled and placed Dipper on the horse. He only just registered how weirdly hard the horse felt before it galloped away in full speed, Dipper just able to hear Cipher yell: “You gotta take life by the reins!”

 

Dipper squeezed his legs around the horse, held his arms around its neck, and grabbed hold onto its mane, all in an attempt to stay on. After a few minutes that felt like forever, Cipher galloped up beside him on his own horse.

 

“How do you like riding on Rocking Horse?!” Cipher asked with a grin.

 

“I hate it!” Dipper shouted back.

 

“Well, it probably hates it too!” Cipher howled with laughter. “Isn’t it weird how you’re willing to continually hurt it by squeezing its stomach, choking its neck, and pulling its hair, all so you can avoid getting hurt yourself?”

 

Dipper didn’t want to gratify Cipher with a response.

 

“Oh, and be careful!” Cipher warned. “Rocking Horse is made entirely out of wood, and I’m sure you don’t want to get splinters!”

 

At the mention of splinters, Dipper instinctively drew back, giving Rocking Horse the moment it needed to force Dipper of it.

 

Dipper landed on the forest floor, hard. His head, upper back, and elbows were hurt the worst, but there didn’t seem to be any serious injuries; probably because he landed on the somewhat soft ground.

 

“Oh, no, would you look at that,” Cipher shook his head as he walked his own horse over to where Dipper fell. Cipher got down from the horse and crouched down in front of Dipper. “But, you know what they say; Once you fall off the horse, you gotta get right back up on it~”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "When you fall off the horse, get right back on it!" an idiom that teaches perseverance and never giving up!... But what if there was a very good reason the horse threw you off? And if it happens again and again, how many times can you get back on the horse before you either give up or die?


	16. The House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After riding for hours, the horses finally stop in front of a somewhat odd house...

_My entire body feels numb… Riding that horse was a nightmare, but every time I fell off, Cipher would just put me back on it… I felt like I was about to cry when the horses finally stopped…_

The horses finally stopped running after what felt like an eternity. Dipper carefully slipped off Rocking Horse; his arms were covered in splinters and small wounds, his entire body felt as if someone had stretched his limbs and beaten his flesh. It was only once he had wandered a safe distance from Cipher and Rocking Horse that he noticed they had stopped in front of a two-story house.

 

The house had pink walls, a brown-tiled roof, and white windows that revealed a kitchen and a living room on the ground floor.

 

Dipper’s thoughts were distracted from the house, when he heard the sound of roaring flames. He turned around to find that Cipher had used a lighter to set Rocking Horse aflame, his own horse running away in the distance.

 

“ _What are you doing!?_ ” Dipper shrieked as the living, wooden horse was burnt to charcoal.

 

“Why do you care?” Cipher asked, his smirk still present. “You know if you rode it again, it would still try to throw you off.”

 

“That doesn’t mean I want it to get burned alive!” Dipper yelled.

 

“But it’s a horse that doesn’t want to be ridden,” Cipher said as if that explained everything. “A horse that can’t be ridden serves no purpose. At least since its made out of wood, it can serve a purpose in death.”

 

“I don’t know why I still try to talk some sense into you,” Dipper growled and turned away.

 

“ _You_ talk sense into _me_?” Cipher laughed incredulously. “I think you might have gotten it the other way around.”

 

Dipper paused, wondering for a moment what Cipher could mean by that, but shook his head and walked towards the only place he could go to possibly escape Cipher; the house.

 

“Do you really think you should go in there?” Cipher asked with a lilt in his voice.

 

“I don’t care anymore,” Dipper responded, opened the door and stepped inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usefulness and purpose are things society place heavy weight on. People who don't contribute in meaningful ways to society are called leeches, waste of space, even drains on society. It wouldn't be surprising if someone had once said or just thought that about you. Let's not kid ourselves; there are people out there who think certain things, even people, are worth more dead than alive.
> 
> Thank you for reading, hope you liked it:3 Please leave a comment if you want to:D


	17. A Game of Chess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper enters the house, but finds that it isn't exactly what, or rather where, he expected...

_I had expected Cipher to follow me inside the house, but he didn’t… I guess it doesn’t really matter; he’s gonna show up at some point anyway. I can’t help but wonder what kind of creature he is. Why can he always find me, no matter where I go? The only bright side is there’s got to be some kind of limit to his powers… if only I could find it…_

As soon as Dipper stepped inside the house and shut the door, it was as if all natural light faded away. Not even a speck of sunlight from the windows, even though Dipper knew the sun was shining outside.

 

The house was old and covered in dust; it looked like no one had touched it in years. He walked into the living room and discovered something odd about the furniture, mainly that they weren’t very well built. It seemed like the couch or arm chair would break apart if Dipper put too much weight on them, and both were made from some kind rather… wooly material. Not actual wool, but it seemed rather fuzzy, definitely not the kind of material you would make a couch out of.

 

Suddenly, the entire house began to shake. Dipper wondered for a moment if it was an earthquake, when the house broke apart into two pieces and one piece were removed, letting light pour in and revealing… Cipher’s face.

 

It took Dipper a moment to organize his thoughts, but he realized that he was inside a dollhouse, which in turn seemed to be inside some kind of playroom, most likely inside the hotel.

 

It made absolutely no sense how Dipper had wound up inside a dollhouse when he had been in a wide open field only five minutes ago. Now he was the size of a doll, while Cipher was still his normal size, sending him a smile full of secrets.

 

“ _What?_ ” Dipper snarled angrily at Cipher while also raising his voice so the host could hear him. “Are you gonna tell me something about how I’m just a plaything for others amusement, or that I in actuality have no free will of my own?”

 

“Good guess,” Cipher laughed, keeping his own voice lower, probably to not overwhelm Dipper. “You really are a stubborn little thing… It’s amazing how tightly you keep holding on.”

 

“Holding on to what?” Dipper asked, frowning at Cipher’s choice of words.

 

“Nevermind that,” Cipher giggled and picked Dipper up by his shirt, placing him in the palm of Cipher’s hand. “But I bet you want to return to your normal size.”

 

“Are you going to do that?” Dipper asked skeptically.

 

“Hmm…” Cipher pondered for a moment. “Well, it would be a lot easier to keep an eye on you if you just stayed in the dollhouse…”

 

“You wouldn’t have brought up the size-thing if you didn’t want to do something about it,” Dipper retorted.

 

“True,” Cipher laughed and placed Dipper down on a table. Aside from Dipper, there was also a chessboard on the table, complete with all the pieces in place, except for the white king which seemed to be missing. “How about this; let’s play a game of chess. I’ll be black, you’ll be white, with you taking the place of the white king. If you win, you’ll be returned to your normal size, but, and here’s the kicker, in this game when a piece is taken, it’s destroyed instead, meaning that if you lose, you die.”

 

“… I thought you didn’t want me to die,” Dipper frowned. His comment had been said under his breath, but Cipher looked like he had still heard it, giving only an enigmatic smile in return. “Fine.”

 

“You can control your pieces by telling them where to go,” Cipher explained as he sat down in a chair on the other side of the table. “Just like a real king~”

 

Dipper rolled his eyes and made his opening move;  White Pawn from d7 to d5. Cipher followed this up with moving one of his own pawns from d2 to d3. Dipper saw what Cipher was trying to do and knew that his opponent would move a different pawn from e2 to e4 in his next turn to try and lure Dipper into a trap.

 

Dipper countered this by moving one of his bishops from c8 to f5. Cipher’s next move was exactly as Dipper had predicted; one pawn from e2 to e4. Dipper moved his own pawn from d5 to e4 and captured the black pawn. His white pawn and jumped and landed on the black pawn, crushing it to pieces that littered the board. This was quickly followed with Cipher sending his other pawn from d3 to e4, crushing Dipper’s pawn.

 

Dipper’s next move was using his bishop to capture said pawn. Instead of crushing the pawn, the bishop sent some kind of electric current through the pawn that made it turn to ashes.

 

Cipher’s next move was to send his one of his own bishops from f1 to b5, putting Dipper in check. Recalling the electric shock that had been strong enough to turn a piece to ash, Dipper quickly moved his bishop e4 to c6 to block the black bishop.

 

The black bishop destroyed Dipper’s white bishop, and Dipper retaliated by sending his knight from b8 to c6. The knight’s horse leapt over a pawn, and Dipper expected the knight to stomp the bishop, but instead, the knight’s lance skewered the bishop and a red liquid spilled from the bishop’s wound onto the board.

 

“Why is it bleeding!?” Dipper screeched while the knight officially took the bishop’s spot, the horse kicking away the bishop’s corpse.

 

“Well, they’re alive,” Cipher shrugged as if that was self-explanatory. “What, you thought they were able to move on their own because of magic? Oh no, they’re living, breathing creatures.”

 

“You mean… I…” Dipper realized that he had not only sent his pieces to _kill_ three other pieces, he had also sent two pieces into their death.

 

“Don’t be so surprised,” Cipher chuckled. “The entire point of chess is to sacrifice pieces to protect the king.”

 

“Yes, _pieces!_ ” Dipper shouted. “Not living creatures!”

 

“But is real life really that different?” Cipher tilted his head. “In order to get far in the world, you need to see yourself as the king in a game of chess, and everyone else as expendable pieces. After all, you don’t win a game of chess by sacrificing the king, and you don’t win in life by sacrificing yourself.”

 

“There are people in real life worth sacrificing yourself for,” Dipper snarled.

 

“But does that include any of these pieces?” Cipher asked. “I’m sure you’ve realized it by now; if you want to make it out of here, you need to survive this game. And in order to survive this, you need to sacrifice others. Living, feeling creatures that you will have to discard to ensure your own survival; just like real life.”

 

Dipper bit his lower lip in frustration. Cipher was right; if Dipper wanted to escape, he needed to win, he needed to survive, and the very nature of chess is to sacrifice expendable pieces to lure your enemy into a trap.

 

“You’re a monster…” Dipper could only mumble as he forced himself to continue playing.

 

Dipper ended up losing a lot of pieces, including his queen, but somehow he had managed to almost lure Cipher into a trap, only…

 

\---- **K** \---

\--------

 _R_ - **Q** - _PPP_ -

\--------

\---- _Kn_ \---

\--------

\--------

\---- _K_ \---

 

(K = King, Q = Queen, P = Pawn, Kn = Knight, R = Rook, Bold = Black, Italics = White)

 

 

In order to force Cipher into the trap… Dipper would have to sacrifice another piece. He took a shaky breath… He didn’t want to do this, but he had to. He knew he had to.

 

Dipper moved his knight from e5 to d3, thus putting the black king in check. In order for the trap to work, Cipher would have to use his queen to capture the knight.

 

“I see what you did there,” Cipher chuckled. “Right now, you’re actually hoping that I kill that knight, right?”

 

Dipper didn’t respond.

 

“I don’t have to do that of course,” Cipher fiddled with his king. “I could just move the king out of the way. Is that what you want?”

 

Dipper looked down.

 

“Here’s the thing, I don’t care if I win or lose,” Cipher said. “So if you’ll just admit to me that I was right, I’ll move my queen instead of my king. Unless of course you want to give up and just remain that size forever…”

 

“… You were right,” Dipper sighed, feeling defeated despite his approaching victory.

 

“That’s all I wanted,” Cipher laughed and moved his queen to d3, killing Dipper’s knight by piercing a sword through the knight’s and horse’s throat. Afterwards, Dipper moved his rook from a3 to a1.

 

“Checkmate,” Dipper said before his entire shifted and he was back to normal size.

 

“That was a great game!” Cipher announced cheerfully. “I can’t wait to play with you again.”

 

“I am never playing chess, or any other game for that matter, with you ever again!” Dipper snarled angrily at the host.

 

“We’ll see about that,” Cipher whispered just loud enough for Dipper to hear him, and unfortunately, something told Dipper that they would at some point play again…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those willing to sacrifice others to protect themselves often find themselves as King, while those willing to sacrifice themselves to protect others are the various other pieces. This might sound unfair, until you realize that not only is the King the worst piece in chess, it is also the only piece that has to die...


	18. The Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the game of chess, Cipher invites Dipper to dinner, which Dipper is too hungry to refuse...

_The chessboard was still covered in blood when I returned to my normal size; blood and fragments from the pieces… The worst part is… I don’t even feel guilty, which in turn makes me feel horrible…_

Dipper reached for the door leading out of the room, when he was grabbed by the shoulder and turned around by Cipher.

 

“I’m getting worried about you,” Cipher said, but his tone made it clear he wasn’t telling the truth. “I mean, you haven’t eaten since you got here~”

 

Dipper didn’t know if it was just his hunger catching up to him or not, but when Cipher mentioned that, he did feel pretty hungry, starving actually.

 

“I was planning on having a picnic with you before you decided to go inside the doll house,” Cipher shrugged. “Oh well, if we can’t have a nice picnic outside, we’ll just have to eat in the dining room.”

 

“I don’t think-“ Dipper was cut off by the sound of his own stomach rumbling; he was almost so hungry that it hurt. The most suspicious part of this wasn’t that he was hungry; after all, Cipher was right, he hadn’t eaten in what had to be days. No, the suspicious part was, why was he first getting hungry now?

 

“Looks like you _are_ hungry,” Cipher chuckled and placed his hand on Dipper’s lower back, leading him out of the room. “Let’s get some food in ya.”

 

Dipper allowed Cipher to lead him to the dining room without much protest. He was just really starting to get tired of it all; it seemed like no matter what he did, he wound up in dangerous or painful situations all the time! When was it going to end? Was sleeping really all he could do without risking suffering? No, because there was also a demon that ate sleeping people’s skin! It was getting to be too much- no, actually it had been too much a long time ago. Dipper hoped that if he just did as Cipher wanted him to, at least for now, he could get something to eat and not fear for his life for at least fifteen minutes. But Dipper also knew that that hope was in vain; Cipher wasn’t going to protect him, Cipher was just leading him into even more misery…

 

The dining room was old and dusty, the wallpaper in there was partially peeled off, and the carpet was covered in various unknown stains. At least the table and chairs seemed clean enough, even if the chandelier above was covered in so much dust that the dust almost rained down on the table.

 

Cipher pulled out a chair, gesturing to Dipper to sit down. Dipper reluctantly sat on the chair and allowed Cipher to push it in. The chair was made from dark, polished wood, the seat and back was covered with a soft, stuffed fabric, and the chair even had armrests.

 

Cipher walked through a door and returned almost instantly, carrying two small plates. He placed one of the plates in front of Dipper before sitting down on the other side of the table, and began to eat.

 

Dipper examined what was on the plate; three slices of bread that smelled like garlic and was dripping with oil.

 

“What’s wrong?” Cipher asked after swallowing his food. “It’s garlic bread.” Cipher said while rolling his eyes.

 

Dipper carefully picked at the bread, before he tore off a small bit and ate it; it was slightly more… crunchy than he had expected, as if there were small pieces of garlic inside the bread, but it tasted alright, if a bit too much like garlic.

 

Once the bread was eaten, Dipper made to leave his chair, but Cipher was quick to object.

 

“Where are you going?” Cipher asked.

 

“Well, I’ve eaten, so…” Dipper trailed off like it was self-explanatory.

 

“That was only the appetizer!” Cipher laughed. “I’m treating you to a full five course dinner! So hope you didn’t fill up on bread!”

 

Dipper was about to protest when Cipher took both oil-covered plates and left, but he still felt pretty hungry. He doubted he had room enough for four other courses, but he could always leave after one or two dishes more.

 

Cipher soon returned, carrying two bowls of soup, along with two spoons. Once again he served Dipper first before he sat down and ate.

 

“It’s a carrot soup,” Cipher said before he started shoving spoonful after spoonful into his mouth.

 

Dipper tried a spoonful and, while the soup tasted just fine, there was something about liquid in it. He didn’t know if it was because the soup was too hot, but… it almost felt like something was thrashing around in the liquid when he put it in his mouth. It was odd, kind of difficult to explain, but it sort of reminded him of a fish struggling in the water, just without an actual physical fish.

 

Dipper ignored it and finished his soup, feeling somewhat full, but still able to eat more. The next dish Cipher brought out was a salad; it had lettuce, grated carrots, olives, and lentils. Dipper took a bite and once again felt that something was wrong, even though the salad tasted fine. It was as if the bite he took, and was chewing, was buzzing inside his mouth, like something was moving. It bothered Dipper too much this time, and he spat out the bite into his hand.

 

“You don’t like salad?” Cipher asked, already halfway done with his salad.

 

Dipper looked at the partially chewed bite in his hand; it was moving. He took a closer look at the dish, and yes, the entire was moving! It looked like it was breathing, whereas the bite in his hand moved more actively.

 

“What the hell is this!?” Dipper screeched, throwing the still moving bite across the table. It would probably have hit Cipher in the face, if Dipper didn’t have such terrible aim.

 

“… Dinner?” Cipher responded sarcastically and took another bite.

 

“Is this salad… alive!?” Dipper nearly gasped.

 

“Yeah, the two other dishes were too,” Cipher said as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

 

Dipper felt like he was going to throw up; he didn’t know if this was magic, or if the dishes had been living creatures. He didn’t know, but the thought of eating something, something still living and breathing, made Dipper feel sick! He tried to his chair out from the table and escape, but the armrests began to move, and they snared around Dipper’s wrists, preventing him from leaving.

 

“You’re not leaving already, are you?” Cipher chuckled and rose from the table. “You’re not finished yet.”

 

He moved to Dipper’s side of the table with long, leisurely steps, picked up Dipper’s fork, and used it to move part of the salad closer to Dipper’s mouth.

 

Dipper moved his head to the side and kept his mouth shut; he didn’t want another bite of Cipher’s food, he’d rather starve!

 

“So that’s the thanks I get?” Cipher asked incredulously. “I make you some of the freshest meal in the world, and you won’t even eat it. You know food starts going back as soon as it dies, right? Both meat and plants… This is still moving! It remains at its optimal quality until it hits your stomach acid. What more could you want!?”

 

Dipper didn’t respond. He kept his head turned away, mouth and eyes shut, praying that Cipher would just decide Dipper had suffered enough and let him go.

 

“Looks like I’ll actually have to force this down your throat~” Cipher whispered, not without some humor. He laid his left arm over Dipper’s shoulders and used his hand to both force Dipper’s mouth open and turn his head towards Cipher. He then used his other hand to shove the fork with the food inside Dipper’s mouth, before forcing the mouth closed again.

 

Dipper wanted to spit the food out; he could feel the salad moving around in his mouth, and it felt disgusting! But Cipher used his hand to make Dipper chew and swallow the bite, and then continued doing so until the salad was fully eaten.

 

“There,” Cipher chuckled. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

 

Dipper breathed heavily through his mouth, his entire body shaking with disgust.

 

“Please…” Dipper nearly sobbed. “Can I leave now?”

 

“My dear!” Cipher gasped with fake surprise. “You can’t leave yet! You still have the main course and dessert left!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Alive" is just about as fresh as a dish can be, which may be why some types of animals prefer it that way. Either way, humans might be the only animal that prepares their meal, both for taste, and in the case of meat for health...


	19. A Deadly Dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a... somewhat lovely meal, Cipher invites Dipper out dancing for reasons Dipper don't understand...

_I actually managed to force that… food down my throat. The main course had been a fish, each bite floundering in my mouth like a real fish out of water. The dessert had been ice cream… ice cream that moved and felt like some kind of… living blob monster… The worst part is… I actually got kind of used to it…_

Dipper was lying on the floor, not sure if he was going to barf or not. His stomach felt like it was beating itself with a stick.

 

Cipher was standing in front of him, looking down on him with that ever-present smirk.

 

“Did the dinner not sit well with you?” he asked Dipper, sounding as mocking as ever.

 

“You… bastard…” Dipper gasped while trying to take deep breaths.

 

“Now that’s just not polite at all,” Cipher scolded teasingly before extending his hand to Dipper. “And here I was going to help you.”

 

“I don’t need your help!” Dipper shouted and rose to his feet, batting Cipher’s hand away. “I have no idea what’s going on here! I don’t know if it’s magic, advanced technology, me hallucinating, or if I’ve just gone crazy, but I do know one thing; I don’t trust you!”

 

“It really depends on what you’re referring to,” Cipher mumbled while averting his eyes. Dipper assumed he referred to Dipper not knowing what this entire place was. “Anyway,” he continued while looking directly at Dipper. “We shouldn’t ruin this lovely night with arguing. The hotel has a ballroom right beside this dining room, so why don’t we go out dancing?”

 

“Give me one good reason why I should,” Dipper snarled.

 

“Do you really think you have a choice?” Cipher merely retorted.

 

Dipper sighed; he supposed he didn’t. He was just getting tired. Was this really his life from now on? Was he ever going to escape this hotel? He had to! He knew he had to! There was no debate about it. Maybe if he danced with Cipher, it would placate the host for a while. It wasn’t a great justification, but it was all he could do. And so he took Cipher’s hand and allowed the host to lead him through a door to the ballroom.

 

It was far cleaner than the dining room. The ballroom was round, with polished, pale yellow stone walls and floors, the only illumination being a few dozen floor candle holders, each one burning two or more white wax candles. However, what drew Dipper’s attention most of all, was in the middle of the ballroom, there was several pools of blood. The blood didn’t look new; it looked like it had been left there and allowed to dry.

 

“Oh, so we never did remove those stains,” Cipher said, not sounding too concerned. “One of our previous guests had an… accident here, involving glass slippers.”

 

Of course Dipper knew about the fairy tale of Cinderella. He also knew that glass wouldn’t make for comfortable footwear, and that glass was exceedingly fragile. Whoever had worn those glass slippers, the shoes had most likely shattered from the weight, leaving their wearer to walk barefooted on broken glass. That explained the stains. Dipper wondered, if the blood had never been cleaned up, had the glass shards been?

 

“We have spare slippers of course,” Cipher added, breaking Dipper out of his thoughts. “You wanna-“

 

“No, I don’t want to wear glass slippers,” Dipper quickly asserted.

 

“Alright,” Cipher shrugged and grabbed Dipper’s hand, dragging him out on the dance floor.

 

Music began to play from nowhere as the two started to dance. Dipper could catch a crunching sound beneath his feet, signaling that the glass shards hadn’t been cleaned. At least Dipper’s shoes could protect him from getting cut.

 

“Why were you so adamant on dancing with me?” Dipper asked his host.

 

“Why did you accept?” Cipher retorted, smiling secretly.

 

“If you remember, I refused at first,” Dipper argued. “But then you said I didn’t have a choice. So answer my question; why do want to dance with me?”

 

“…” Cipher didn’t respond at first. He just kept that stupid smirk on his face. That is, until Dipper heard something open. He was only able to make see that a hole in one of the walls had appeared before ten arrows were fired towards them. Dipper quickly spun him and Cipher out of the way, narrowly avoiding getting hit by the arrows. “Because you wanted to,” Cipher finally answered.

 

“… That makes no sense!” Dipper almost shrieked in frustration. “And what the hell was that!?”

 

“I think it was arrows.”

 

“I know it was arrows,” Dipper snarled. “Why did arrows shoot out of the wall!?”

 

“For the same reason that spiders are about to fall from the ceiling.”

 

Dipper was about to respond to Cipher’s statement before he heard the sound of something opening again. Mere moments later, dozens of giant tarantulas were falling down. None of them landed on Dipper or Cipher, but when they started scurrying around on the floor, Dipper actually jumped into Cipher’s arms.

 

“They’ll leave in a moment,” Cipher hummed, his expression looking overall pleased with himself.

 

Cipher was right; soon the spiders began to crawl up the walls and back to where they came from. There was a sound of something closing, and Dipper carefully jumped down from Cipher’s arms.

 

“What is all this?” Dipper demanded while Cipher took his hand and began dancing with him again. “You’re clearly in control of this.”

 

“Oh, of course I am,” Cipher almost sounded sarcastic, but Dipper was sure that that was just an attempt to confuse him, or something like that… “Tell me, why do _you_ think all this is happening? I’m not just talking about the arrows or the spiders, I mean everything.”

 

“… Because you want something from me,” Dipper replied after a moment of thinking. “You… want me to suffer… You obviously want me to forget my family and friends… And you want to keep me here…”

 

“While every statement you just made are in and of themselves true,” Cipher said as he spun Dipper around. “None of them explain _why_ this is happening… Why all this is happening to _you_.”

 

Dipper didn’t get it. Was there something he was missing here? Maybe… maybe he had managed to piss someone off enough to have him sent here? Was that it? Or maybe… maybe none of this was real, and he had gone completely insane… Or maybe…

 

He didn’t have a chance to continue his line of thoughts when he heard the sound of something opening again. It was the wall opposite of the arrows. Dipper reacted with instinct and moved Cipher in front of whatever was fired out of the hole, effectively using him as a body shield.

 

Dipper had his eyes shut, only hearing something get fired out of the hole. He heard the sound of something sharp piercing Cipher, the sound of Cipher letting out a surprised, and maybe even pained, sound.

 

Dipper opened his eyes to find three different pierced into Cipher. A cutlass had been launched clean through his head, good part of the sword piercing through his forehead. A gladius was embedded in his neck, blood already seeping out because of the looser flesh. And finally, an honest to god broadsword was sitting in his abdomen. Cipher had to be dead.

 

Dipper stared at his host in fear, expecting the body to fall at any minute. Cipher had a wide-eyed and surprised look on his face… but then he blinked. His eyes started to crinkle with mirth and his mouth curled back into a smile.

 

“Great job, my dear!” Cipher laughed, blood spurting out of the wound in his neck as he spoke. “That was marvelous!”

 

“Whuh…?” Dipper could barely find the words to speak. He stepped back from Cipher, hoping the lack of support would make him fall, but it didn’t!

 

“You knew your life was in danger, and what do you do? You decide to kill two birds with one stone!” Cipher continued. He stood slightly more wobbly now, but otherwise seemed fine. “You really hate me that much? Do you want me to die? Does the concept, the very idea of my death bring you joy?” Despite Cipher’s word choice, he didn’t seem mad; he seemed overjoyed.

 

“N-no,” Dipper shook his head, still trying to distance himself from Cipher. Dipper didn’t want to think himself capable of what Cipher just said; Dipper wasn’t a murderer!

 

“Then maybe you thought if you killed me, you could leave,” Cipher retorted. “Is that it? Is your desire to leave really so big that you’re willing to _kill_ over it!?”

 

“No, _no_ , _NO_!” Dipper shouted. He covered his ears with his hands and ran. He ran right out of the nearest door, and continued running. He didn’t care where he ended up; he just wanted to get away from Cipher…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Killing someone, taking the life of another... something most people would never do. Some people wouldn't even be able to do it to save their own life. One thing is for sure; once you've killed someone, you can never go back, and perhaps that's what Cipher wants...
> 
>  
> 
> Hi everyone! Thank you for reading! I'm working on the next chapter of Masks & Capes, I think I'm around halfway done. There are only two more updates left on this story, and I am honestly curious if anyone has figured out the twist yet? Of course if you've watched Gregory Horror Show you already know the twistX3
> 
> Anyway, please leave a comment if you want to! I love to receive comments:3 And have a lovely day, or night if you're reading this before going to bedX3


	20. The Master Bedroom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper discovers what is located at the hotel's top floor...

_I was running as fast as I could… I didn’t care where I was going; I just wanted to get as far away from Cipher as possible. I vaguely remember running up several flights of stairs, ascending the hotel’s many floors… until I reached the top…_

Dipper had stopped running, too exhausted to move on at the moment. He gasped for air before taking a look at what was in front of him.

 

He had reached the final floor; there were no more staircases going up. Instead of all the previous floors, that had long hallways filled with doors, here there was only one door. The only thing between the staircase and the door was an odd welcome mat, with the “O” in welcome replaced with what looked like the eye of providence.

 

The door in question was made from wood so dark, it almost looked completely black. Instead of a number plaque like most of the other doors, intricate patterns, which almost looked like some kind of ancient forgotten language, were carved into the wood, the patterns shining with a golden glow.

 

Dipper reached out to the door handle, which looked like it was made of gold, and tried to open the door. He wanted to see where the door led, but was also scared of what was hidden behind it. He had hoped that the door was locked, so he would have an excuse not to go inside, but the door opened just fine, and Dipper reluctantly stepped inside.

 

Behind the door was another hallway, at the end of which there was a door identical to the one Dipper had just stepped through. On either side of the hallway were three other doors, leaving the room with eight doors in total, though the six doors on the sides of the hallway lacked the golden pattern.

 

Dipper opened the door closest to him and found a kitchen inside. It looked like a normal, albeit luxurious kitchen, complete with appliances, polished counters, and a small dining table along with three chairs.

 

The next room was bathroom, but again looked completely luxurious; everything looked like it was carved from marble, aside from a toilet and sink, there was the most roomy shower that Dipper had ever seen, and instead of a tub there was a huge spa pool.

 

Behind the third door there was a room that looked like a mix between a living room and a library; two soft, clean sofas, three comfy arm chairs, and walls lined with bookcases.

 

The fourth door was locked, so Dipper moved on to the next two; the two doors closest to the door at the end of the hallway. Both doors hid the same thing; a white, foggy room that seemed to go on forever, lined with shelves filled with glass jars and glass vases, that all seemed to contain some kind of glowing light, each a different color, and each jar and vase closed with a cork. It occurred to Dipper that each room seemed much bigger than should be possible, but why were these two rooms to big that he couldn’t even see the end? Especially since they were just filled with some kind of odd fireflies.

 

Dipper shook his head and turned to the last door. He opened it, hesitating for a only a moment, and inside he found… a bedroom. It was mainly black golden, had a king-sized canopy bed, a huge dresser, a black violin in the corner, a desk and chair with several papers strewn about both furniture… The first thing Dipper noticed however, was a huge mirror hung right in front of door; judging from his reflection, he looked like he had been through hell… and that might not even have been too far off the mark.

 

In front of the mirror, there stood a long, low table, but the only item standing on it was a glass vase, similar to some of the ones in the two other rooms, only this one looked much more… exquisite than the others? It was hard to pinpoint, but something about the shape and quality of the vase made it seem much fancier than the others. Aside from that, there was no odd light inside, and the plug was lying right beside it, only where the other vases and jars had had an ordinary cork, this was a plug made from glass, shaped like a diamond, and seemed to have been handmade for that specific vase.

 

Dipper shot up when he heard a door open. He turned around, relieved to find that it wasn’t the door to the room he was in, but that meant… it had to either be the locked door or front door.

 

“Will!” he heard Cipher’s voice call out. “I need to have a word with you!”

 

Dipper took one look around the room and realized the only available hiding spot was under the bed. He dived down beneath the bed, grateful that the long bed sheets were keeping him hidden.

 

He could vaguely hear some low mumbling that grew louder before the door was slammed open, and he saw two pairs of feet enter the room.

 

“Saki told me you’ve been ignoring her,” a voice that was unmistakably Cipher’s said.

 

“I just haven’t been in the mood for company lately,” the other person, presumably this Will responded. His voice was similar to Cipher’s, but it was much more mellow and sad, almost sounded melancholic. “She’s your niece too; why don’t you entertain her?”

 

“I’m _busy_ , Will!” Cipher hissed. Dipper could see Cipher’s feet walk over to the paper covered desk. “I have a job to do!”

 

“Well, so do I,” Will responded with a sigh. “And you’ve really gone above and beyond this time. Usually you just let the guests handle, throw in a little visit once in a while to check everything’s going fine… I mean, you ate dinner and danced together; since when do you do that?”

 

“This one’s special,” Cipher replied defensively. “You’d understand if you met him. His will is so strong, he hasn’t even forgotten about his family yet… in fact, he hasn’t even given up escaping!”

 

“Bill…” Will’s voice was soft as he stepped closer to Cipher. “He’s so young… He might still have a chance-“

 

“We’ve had younger guests,” Cipher scoffed. “And you know it’s already too late for him.”

 

“I just thought… maybe you could let this one go?”

 

“’Let him go’!? How many times do we need to have this discussion? It’s not my choice!”

 

“But you’re keeping the hotel open,” Will protested and stepped even closer to Cipher, who turned away from Will and walked over to the table in front of the mirror. “Isn’t it time to close it? Don’t you think you have enough?”

 

“’Enough’? Will, the point of a collection is to get at least one of each! And since each soul is unique, I’m not stopping until I have every soul in existence! Which isn’t going to happen, since I’ve already missed a bunch…”

 

Dipper nearly gasped, but quickly covered his mouth. Was that what this was about? Souls? Dipper supposed it made sense; Cipher had mentioned that Saki, the soul-stealing demon, was his niece… Though that still left a lot of unanswered questions…

 

“Then if you’re not gonna let him go, can’t you just end it already? Slit his throat or something, and not prolong his misery?”

 

“I can’t just do that,” Cipher scoffed, and Dipper heard him pick something up.

 

“You did that to our previous guest,” Will retorted. “Sent Damocles right into his room to stab him in his sleep.”

 

“That was different! That guy was literally begging for death!” Cipher groaned. “And now that we’re on the subject, you were supposed to have cleaned that room! Do you realize how embarrassing it was to show our guest his room, and only to find the bed covered in blood and stab holes? We have an arrangement; I take care of guests, you supervise the cleaning and maintenance.”

 

“It’s not like it made a difference…” Will mumbled.

 

“Besides, I don’t just wanna take the easy way with this one,” Cipher let out an almost child-like giggle. “He’s special… I want to break his will, make him give up on ever going home, and then… completely forget about everything that isn’t here… with _me_ ~”

 

“That’s… sort of surprising.”

 

“See this? I had this made especially for him,” Cipher let out a wistful sigh. “His soul is going to look so cute trapped in there~”

 

This time, Dipper couldn’t prevent an involuntary gasp from getting out, and Cipher froze.

 

“Did you hear that?” Cipher asked, before slowly walking closer to the bed where Dipper was hiding. “I think we may have an intruder…”

 

“Yeah! I heard it too!” Will grabbed Cipher and pulled him away from the bed and towards the door. “I think it was inside one of the soul chambers! Let’s hurry before they release some!”

 

“… Alright,” Cipher responded slowly before walking with Will outside the door.

 

Dipper waited for a moment, just to make sure they weren’t coming back, before he bolted out of the door, through the hallway, out the entrance, and down the stairs.

 

He lamented that he wasn’t able to free any of the souls trapped in Cipher’s home, filled with guilt at the thought in fact. Maybe if he hadn’t just assumed they were fireflies, if he had just let them out before Cipher returned…! But now he also knew what Cipher wanted from him, and he was determined not to let it happen. As long as he kept his hope burning strong, he could win this!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of the mystery has been revealed, but don't be fooled; this is only a small piece to a much bigger puzzle...


	21. The Eternal Flame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wandering the hotels, Dipper finds something that looks like one of the trapped souls...

_I finally figured out what Cipher wants from me; my soul. I’m still not a hundred percent sure what’s going on, but at least I know that Cipher wants me to give him my soul… I need to get out of here before he gets impatient and just decides to kill me…_

Dipper began to slow down once he felt he was far enough away from Cipher’s room. He felt like, despite the information he had gathered, he was back to square one; trying to find an escape from the hotel. He was trying to remember the faces and names of his family and friends, but… he couldn’t. The only person he could remember was his twin sister, and even then, he could no longer recall her name.

 

The hallways he was traversing seemed different from the other floors, more stylish, more decorated, almost like the floor had been a later edition added on to the hotel.

 

It was as he was walking this hallway, he noticed something familiar; on a table by the wall, placed almost like a vase, was a glass jar, complete with a lid, and inside was an orange, glowing sphere, just like the souls in Cipher’s room!

 

Dipper couldn’t believe it! He might actually be able to save one of the trapped souls here! He did wonder why Cipher had placed it here, but maybe he had some souls placed all around the hotel as decoration! Dipper might even have walked past one before and not noticed! There was a small plaque embedded in the table that read: “Do not open”, which made sense, Cipher wouldn’t want to lose a soul.

 

Filled with excitement, Dipper took the jar and unscrewed the lid; he vaguely noticed that rather than a cork, this jar had a metal lid filled with holes.

 

As soon as Dipper had removed the lid, a pillar of fire shot out of the jar, burning the ceiling and nearby wall. Dipper dropped the jar in surprise, falling backwards from the sheer force of the fire, which was beginning to spread.

 

Smoke was starting to fill the hallway, as well as Dipper’s lungs. His eyes were filling with tears and he began to cough. He was completely surrounded by fire, unable to escape. He wondered, as the fire grew closer, whether this was the end, when he was hit in the head by some cold foam.

 

Dipper wiped the foam away and looked up from where he was sitting; Cipher was standing in front of him, holding a fire extinguisher, putting out the fire around them. When the fire was almost extinguished, Cipher picked up the discarded lid and used it to close the jar, before he put out the remaining fire and placed the jar where it stood before. The small orange light was still glowing inside the jar.

 

“You know, ‘do not open’ generally means you’re not supposed to open something,” Cipher chuckled as he looked down on Dipper.

 

“What was that?” Dipper asked, letting out a small cough; his lungs still felt a little smoke-filled.

 

“The Eternal Flame,” Cipher explained and offered a hand to Dipper. “A sentient, ever-burning fire. It was lucky I was around to put out the fire, otherwise it would have burned the entire hotel down… so many people would have died…”

 

Dipper didn’t take Cipher’s hand, and instead got on his feet by himself, throwing Cipher an angry glare as he did.

 

“What’s wrong?” Cipher asked almost too innocently, tilting his head inquisitively.

 

“I know what you’re trying to do,” Dipper snarled, pointing an accusatory finger at Cipher. “You’re trying to play with my head again, make me think I almost killed all your guests. You want to make me cower with the guilt.”

 

“Actually, I would prefer if you didn’t,” Cipher grinned.

 

“I know what you’re after,” Dipper continued. “And you won’t get it! I’m going home, tonight!”

 

“Oh really?” instead of Cipher’s vaguely concealed fear when Dipper tried to leave before, this time he only gave a lazy smile in return. “And how are you going to accomplish that?”

 

“I’m…” Dipper hesitated for a moment, wondering why Cipher was reacting like that. “I’m going through the front door, of course!”

 

“Hmm,” Cipher hummed in response before sending Dipper a piercing look. “Do you even remember your old home?”

 

“N-“ Dipper bit his tongue to prevent himself from answering. Truth was, he couldn’t remember! He couldn’t even remember what his front door looked like! “Not my old home! My actual home. And you can’t stop me from leaving.”

 

“That’s true,” Cipher shrugged and stepped aside. “Well? Are you leaving or not?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A sentient flame that burns forever... Like the brightest hope it cannot be extinguished. Containment is the only way to keep it at bay...


	22. Out of the Door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper finally manages to set a foot outside the hotel...

_I only hesitated for a moment, just one moment of uncertainty, and then I stormed past Cipher. I ran down the stairs and through the halls, until I arrived in the reception room, placed my hand on the doorknob, and remembered…_

Dipper was filled with so many emotions when he grabbed that knob; excitement, fear, apprehension, uncertainty, relief… They all mixed together inside him, releasing a whole slew of contradicting chemicals in his brain.

 

He pulled down on the knob, only to find that it did not move. It was in that moment that Dipper remembered that the door was locked, or at the very least would not open.

 

“Ah yes,” a familiar voice whispered into Dipper’s ear, and he knew who it was. “It seems that you can’t open the door.”

 

“Where’s the key, Cipher?” Dipper asked after taking a deep breath.

 

“Oh, the door’s not locked,” Cipher chuckled. “You just can’t open it. Maybe you don’t even want to?”

 

“SHUT UP!!!” Dipper roared, turning around, pushing Cipher away in the process, and grabbed the nearest object; a floor lamp.

 

“Are you gonna beat me with that?” Cipher laughed. “Go on. Take out all your frustrations on _me_ ~”

 

Dipper let out a few heavy breaths, trying to calm down. He lowered the lamp, knowing that beating Cipher, while maybe satisfying, wouldn’t solve anything. Instead, he took the lamp and started hitting the foot of it into the door.

 

“W-what are you doing?” Cipher inquired, sounding slightly rattled.

 

“I’m -“ Dipper paused as he beat the lamp into the door, the door giving away a little bit with each hit. “Getting - out - of - here!”

 

After that last word, Dipper put all his strength into one last hit, breaking half of the door along with the lamp. As soon as Dipper noticed the hole in the door, he rushed out, began running to the gate, and through that foggy forest he had first arrived.

 

He couldn’t believe it! He was finally free! It was sort of a melancholic moment since all it had really taken was a couple of hits with a lamp. He could have avoided so pain and suffering if he had just done that from the beginning.

 

Then there were all the poor, lost souls… Dipper hoped someone would somehow be able to free them…

 

Dipper’s entire face lit up when he saw a light in the distance. He picked up speed, running as fast as he possibly could… until he got closer, and realized it was the hotel… complete with the broken front door and everything…

 

“No…” Dipper shook his head and turned around. “This… this isn’t possible…”

 

He began walking away again, not running this time. He must have accidently run in a circle, probably in his excitement to finally leave that hotel. It was a shame with all those other guests. Sure, most of them were monsters, but some of them seemed genuinely nice. Dipper hoped they would notice the front door was open so they could leave too.

 

Once again Dipper noticed a light in the distance. He didn’t hurry this time. He walked slowly and carefully, but the result was still the same; it was the hotel.

 

“No…” Dipper fell to his knees. “This isn’t fair…! I left! _Why won’t you just let me leave!?!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leaving is never as easy as arriving, it requires more than opening a door. It's too easy to just wander in circle and end up where you started...
> 
>  
> 
> Hope you liked the chapters:3 I think I'll finish this fic before the next chapter to Masks & Capes. Sorry this update came a little late; I've been focusing on my schoolwork since I'll be going to exam soon.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed reading this thus far! Please leave a comment if you want to, I love to receive comments:3


	23. The Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper learns part of what makes the hotel tick, and finally figures out how to escape it... only he might not be able to...

_I had left the hotel, but… it didn’t work… Why didn’t it work!? I thought if I could just get through the door, I could escape, but… something won’t let me… Probably Cipher, but… I just don’t know anymore…_

 

Dipper sat on the ground, hunched over and crying; his tears stained the dirt beneath him. He noticed the shadow of someone stepping out from the hotel, and walking over to him.

 

“There, there~” Cipher said. His tone almost sounded… compassionate. “Don’t feel so bad about it; no one can escape Cipher’s House.”

 

Dipper felt a firm hand on his shoulder. The touch helped bring his thoughts back to what was going on, and Dipper stood up on his shaky legs, but didn’t say anything.

 

“Come now,” Cipher began to lead Dipper back into the hotel, and Dipper let him. “Let’s get you back to your room so you can rest~”

 

The pair walked in silence to Dipper’s room, and Dipper felt like he was losing his strength to fight back with each step. By the time they reached his room, he just wanted to give up.

 

Cipher… no, Bill helped him into bed, even tucked him in… it felt nice… made Dipper want to forget that Bill was soul-stealing demon.

 

“Now, get some sleep,” Cipher whispered, smiling as he exited Dipper’s room. “And just… forget about everything…”

 

Dipper closed his eyes and felt the embrace of sleep creep closer. Should he really give up? What was the point of continuing the fight? He couldn’t leave. He had tried everything! Should he really just continue to suffer at hand of the hotel’s guests and just hope he wouldn’t someday die? Then the question remained, what would happen to him if he did give his soul to Bill?

 

“Are you really going to give up?!” an angry voice exclaimed. Dipper awoke with a shock and found Bill staring angrily at him, only… he was wearing different clothes; a dirty, grey hoodie, and ragged, black jeans. Instead of a black eye patch, he was wearing white bandages, and on the opposite eye too! And the most glaring differences; his hair was light blue, and his visible eye was an intense yellow color.

 

“Who… are you?” Dipper asked the stranger.

 

“You already know that,” the stranger sighed and crossed his arms. “You overheard one of my conversations with my cousin.”

 

“So, you’re Will,” Dipper frowned in thought. “Wait, you knew I was there?!”

 

“And ensured your escape,” Will shrugged and sat down on the bed. “Now it looks like that was a waste of effort…”

 

“This coming from the guy who asked Bill to kill me,” Dipper countered and sat up in the bed.

 

“Because I didn’t want to watch you suffer,” Will explained. “Look, Dipper… you _can’t_ give up. There are people out there waiting for you, people who care about you…!”

 

“What other choice do I have!?” Dipper shouted angrily. “I’ve already tried to escape, I even ran right out the front door, and it didn’t work!”

 

“And why do you think that happened?” Will inquired. “Why do you think that, despite your best efforts, you can’t escape this place?”

 

“I don’t know,” Dipper replied honestly. “But I bet it has something to do with your cousin-“

 

“No, it doesn’t,” Will insisted.

 

“Then tell me what it is!” Dipper demanded.

 

“I… can’t…” Will looked like he was struggling to reply.

 

“Why?”

 

“… Because you don’t want to hear the answer,” Will shook his head sadly and sighed. “One thing I can tell you however, is that you can’t trust _anything_ in this place…”

 

“You listen to me right now,” Dipper growled. “I want you to tell me what’s going on with this place.”

 

“You really don’t,” Will let out a sad chuckle. “But alright, I’ll tell you what I can… Everything that’s happened to you… it happened because you wanted it to.”

 

“What?” Dipper exclaimed dumbfounded. “That literally makes no sense! I want to escape, that’s all I wanted almost from the moment I sat foot in this hotel!”

 

“And before too…” Will mumbled so low that Dipper almost didn’t hear it. “Fine. I’ll tell you how to escape. You need to leave through the front door, walk out into the woods… no hesitation, no looking back… keep the desire to return home strong in your mind… and whatever you do, _don’t_ think about the hotel…”

 

“Is that all?” Dipper asked, finding it hard to believe that it was that simple.

 

“Yes,” Will nodded and smiled to himself. “Bill was right… you really do have a strong willpower. Perhaps… you’ll make it.”

 

“I _will_ make it,” Dipper rose from the bed and exited his room. He marched down the hallway, his destination the front door.

 

In the reception room, Bill was sitting behind his desk. The demon looked up in surprise when Dipper arrived.

 

“Ah, have you rested?” Bill asked. He seemed slightly put off by the look of determination on Dipper’s face. “W-where are you going?”

 

Dipper didn’t respond. He walked towards the front door, and walked out into the night.

 

“Wait!” Bill shouted, running after Dipper, but stopping at the door. “There’s nothing out there but cold, hard reality!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Knowing the way out and taking the way out are two entirely different things. He was told before that it was already too late to escape, and yet he keeps moving on... but for how long?


	24. The Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During his escape, Dipper finally learns the entire truth of how he ended up in Cipher's House, and the true nature and purpose of the hotel...

_I’m finally going home! I almost can’t believe it! I didn’t pay attention to my surroundings, I just kept running, and before I knew it, the forest around me had faded away, leaving only a white void behind. But I don’t care, as long as I don’t- No! Don’t even think about it! But… Why can’t I stop myself from thinking about it…?_

 

Dipper had been running, but had finally run out of breath to the point that he slowed to a walk. He tried his best to focus on his home, his family, but… images of the hotel kept haunting his mind. He tried his best to ignore those thoughts, but… it just didn’t work.

 

Soon enough, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he knew who it was. He just had no idea how Bill had followed him into this white void.

 

“Go back~” a barely audible voice whispered into his ear. “This way only leads to ruin…”

 

Another hand grabbed Dipper’s other shoulder, while the voice kept whispering into his ears. He closed his eyes, tried to focus on anything else, but memories of the hotel kept surfacing no matter what he did!

 

It began to feel like he was being pulled backwards, like the hands on his shoulders were trying to drag him back to the hotel.

 

“Looks like you could need some help,” a friendly voice said. Dipper opened his eyes and saw… the Grim Reaper. There was no mistake; it was a skeleton, wearing a dark gray robe, carrying a scythe, and even had an hourglass on the waist sash that kept his robe tied.

 

“Oh, god,” Dipper whispered, horrified at this realization. “I really am dead…”

 

“What?” the Grim Reaper looked pretty confused considering he didn’t really have a face. “No, no, you’re not dead, just travelling through dimensions.”

 

“That place… was another dimension?” Dipper supposed it made sense, except he still didn’t know how he wound up there.

 

“Go back~” the voice whispered again, and Dipper felt the tugging getting worse.

 

“Please!” Dipper pleaded the Reaper. “Please help me! I don’t want to go back to the hotel!”

 

“Ah, so you’re a guest from Cipher’s House?” the Grim Reaper asked and nodded. “I see. That explains it. Uh, maybe you should take a look at just who it is that’s trying to drag you back to the hotel…”

 

Dipper hesitantly turned his head to see who it was, and he saw… himself. An almost see-through, ghost white version of himself, but still.

 

“W-what?” Dipper’s eyes widened, whether it was from shock or fear, he didn’t know.

 

“We have to go _back_!” the ghostly apparition demanded.

 

“I don’t understand!” Dipper felt like he was about to cry from pure confusion.

 

“Do you know why you ended up at the hotel?” the Grim Reaper inquired, but quickly provided the answer. “Because you wanted to escape reality, and never come back.”

 

“N-no,” Dipper shook his head, feeling the apparition grow stronger.

 

“We couldn’t go on living like that,” the apparition said. “How could anyone expect us to?!”

 

“Reality is far from paradise,” the Reaper shook his head. “Some people just can’t handle it.”

 

“No, no, no!” Dipper insisted. “Cipher’s House is terrible! How could anything reality has to offer be worse than that!? Reality is where my sister is! My parents too! I love them!”

 

“The hotel was terrible because you kept trying to leave!” the apparition snarled. “But not me! I’m the part of you that yearns for more than your precious reality can ever offer!”

 

“No, I’m not like that!” Dipper was starting to cry. He was using all his strength to fight the pull from the apparition.

 

“It’s kind of funny,” the apparition chuckled. “You spent all this time trying to escape your own escape from reality~”

 

“Please…” Dipper begged the Grim Reaper again. “Help me… I just want to go home…”

 

“There’s not much I can do,” the Reaper shrugged. “Whether you like it or not, that’s a part of you.”

 

“Please…” Dipper was sobbing now, barely holding on.

 

“Stop fighting,” the apparition whispered. “Haven’t you fought enough? Wouldn’t it be better to give in? Just close your eyes and remember that dark night… the night you realized there was something better than reality~”

 

“I can suppress the voice for now,” the Grim Reaper suggested. “At least until you get back home. But after that, you’re on your own… But are you really sure you want to return to reality? The thing that pushed you over the edge and made you seek Cipher’s House… it’s still there, waiting for you.”

 

“I know,” Dipper sighed. “But I’ve made it this far; I can’t give up.”

 

“Very well,” the Grim Reaper swung his scythe and all of a sudden, it felt like a great burden had been lifted from Dipper’s shoulders.

 

All he heard before his vision faded to black, was his own voice, echoing in the distance; “You’ll be back”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reality is not for most people. Most people have their own escape from reality, or if they're lucky they're able to change their reality for the better. But for those who don't, and for those who can't, Cipher's House will always be open, and always have a room ready~


	25. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper is back in reality, and as his memories start to return, he realizes why he left in the first place...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *WARNING* I don't usually put warnings at the beginning of my fics, but I think there's a chance that some people might be sensitive to some of the things written in this chapter. Please know that most, if not all, of the things written in this chapter do NOT reflect my own personal meaning. This chapter aims to portray someone with severe anxiety and depression, so if you are sensitive to such topics, please do not read any further. Thank you.

_Take a look around you… Gaze upon this reality that you call your own. A bland, dreary, terrible place… a place with dangers lurking around every corner. A world that does not care about your inconsequential life, for you are but a dot in this among billions of dots in a grand cosmos… And you don’t matter._

Dipper opened his eyes, feeling disoriented for a moment. The room he was in… it was his dorm room. For a moment, he feared that this was just another of Bill’s sick, twisted mind games.

 

He looked outside his windows; the sun was shining, he could see the usual building in a familiar street, people were walking around… normal people! Not terrifying monsters!

 

He wondered if maybe it had all been a dream… a horrible nightmare that had seemed so real, but was only a construct of his own mind.

 

He picked up his cell phone, which was lying on the nightstand next to his bed. He opened it and found a bunch of messages had been left. Before examining them however, he looked at the date and time. It was nearly eleven pm, and according to the date, it was six days after his exam… he had been gone, but it hadn’t even been a week.

 

He looked through his missed messages. Most of them were from his sister… Mabel! Now he remembered! A tear appeared in his eye when he realized he had forgotten her name.

 

The first message had been sent the day after his exam, and was asking him how it had gone, and if he thought he had gotten an A. The second had been a sent a couple hours later, asking if he had gotten the previous message. Shortly after there had been a message asking if he was just too busy to respond. Two days later, Mabel had sent a message asking if he was mad at her. The next day, a message apologizing for whatever wrong she had done. And finally, a worried message asking to just please contact her.

 

The first thing Dipper did, was calling up his sister. He held his breath, wondering what he’d say to her.

 

“Dipper!?” the unmistakable voice of Mabel responded. “Is it you!?!”

 

“Yes, Mabel, it’s me,” Dipper replied, trying his best to keep voice steady, while his eyes filled with tears.

 

“Oh, god, Dipper!” Mabel laughed in relief. “What happened? We’ve all been so worried about you!”

 

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Dipper scratched the back of his head, and he wondered if he should tell the truth. He swallowed, his throat felt tight. He knew no one would believe him. Any story relating to the hotel would be seen as either a vivid dream, a lie, or a delusion. “I… I just needed some time alone…”

 

“You could have told us! Me, mom, and dad were all worried sick!” an angry tone had entered Mabel’s voice.

 

“S-sorry, I kept my phone turned off, so I didn’t see your messages,” Dipper lied.

 

“Alright,” Mabel sighed. “As long as you’re okay.”

 

“I’m… I think I’ll be fine,” Dipper mumbled.

 

As the days began to pass, more and more memories returned to Dipper.

 

Like how he had been considered a boy genius throughout most of elementary school. His parents would praise him, and Mabel would look up to him. But around the time he entered Junior High, things had taken a turn.

 

Dipper had felt so much pressure, from his parents, his sister, his teachers. There would be times when he would suddenly be gripped with fear, without even knowing why. Other times, he would go through periods of time, from hours to weeks, where he wouldn’t feel anything, and was unable to do much of anything.

 

His parents got worried, so they went to the doctor. The doctor responded that there was nothing physically wrong with Dipper, but that he had developed anxiety and depression. The doctor had said this was common for young teens, and suggested that Dipper’s parents should sent him to a therapist or psychiatrist, and that there were plenty of medication that could make it easier for Dipper to handle his anxiety attacks and depression episodes.

 

His parents had said no. They said that if the problem was mental, surely Dipper could handle it on his own. And how could they be sure that Dipper wasn’t just faking it for attention? Especially now that his sister was really blossoming into a beautiful and talented young lady. If something was  wrong with Dipper, his parents were sure that Dipper could overcome it on his own; he just needed to try harder.

 

Mabel had once been his closest friend. Now she was his only friend, and they weren’t so close anymore. Hundreds of memories surfaced of Mabel bailing on him to hang out with her newest boyfriend. And while Mabel had at first been trying to support Dipper’s anxiety and depression as best as she could, eventually she became convinced that he had to be faking it, because it was like he was always feeling anxious and depressed, like it was just an excuse not to do anything.

 

Dipper’s parents had planned for him to go to a great college since he was five. His mother had even gushed to her friends that her son would someday go to an Ivy League University. But during Dipper’s final High School exam, the anxiety had become too much, and he had thrown up during the test.

 

That one instance had cost him a lot, and he had only gotten a C on the test. His parents had been so disappointed.

 

Still, Dipper had managed to make it into a decent college, but the pressure hadn’t stopped; it had only gotten worse. Now his parents expected him to surpass any other student in his classes, because according to them, he was too good for this college. And Dipper had tried, he really had! He had sacrificed any time he could have spent on making friends and relaxing to studying; working and working, preparing for the exam.

 

During the exam, Dipper had had to keep rushing out of the room, because he kept feeling like he was about to throw up. Needless to say, this had taken up a lot of his test time, and when the time for the test ran out, Dipper knew he had failed.

 

On the way home, he had been willing to do anything to escape this… anything so he didn’t have to see his test score… And that was when he had arrived in Cipher’s House’s dimension.

 

But things would be different now! He just… had to try harder…

 

Dipper honestly didn’t know what to do… He knew if things were ever gonna change, he needed to see a therapist or a psychiatrist, maybe get some medication, like that doctor had suggested, but… he was a broke college student… he couldn’t afford any of that. He also needed support, and well… his parents had never believed him, and only supported his academics. His sister was more focused on her dates than his wellbeing.

 

Dipper tried to hold on, he really did, but… he got his exam score in the mail… 55%, an F… All his answers had been right, but he had only managed to fill in little more than half of it.

 

It wasn’t fair! Dipper knew he sounded like a spoiled child, but it wasn’t fair! He had studied his ass off! Trying his damndest to get past his mental handicaps! And he knew there were people out there who hadn’t studied half as much as him, who hadn’t struggled an ounce of what he had suffered through, and they got off with an A.

 

His parents had called him, expressing disappointment in him. They told him that he needed to stop goofing off and take college seriously. His sister had called. When Dipper expressed his struggles to her, she had responded: “Well… don’t you think you could try just a little harder? I don’t know when you got this lazy, but you used to be so good at schoolwork!”

 

Dipper had left a note on his desk, right next to his computer. It was a suicide note. But Dipper wasn’t actually going to take his own life… he had just written the note so no one would try to look for him or wonder what happened to him.

 

He exited his dorm room, hiding his key under the mat; he wouldn’t need it anymore.

 

Stepping outside into the fresh air, he walked down the street slowly. He closed his eyes and thought about the hotel, and it was almost like he could visualize the building as he walked.

 

He opened his eyes, and found himself wandering through a dark, foggy forest.

 

Keeping a steady pace, it wasn’t long until he spotted light in the distance. And there the hotel was, looking exactly like he remembered it, except for the broken door, which had been repaired.

 

Dipper walked up to the front door and knocked three times.

 

Shortly after the third knock, the door open, and Bill stuck his head out.

 

“So glad to see you’ve returned,” Bill smirked, his eye sparkling with mirth. “It took longer than I expected, but it was bound to happen sooner or later.”

 

“I… I’m here to stay,” Dipper whispered, his voice shaking with fear of what was going to happen.

 

“Ah! Of course,” Bill chuckled. “Like I said, all of our guests eventually want to stay forever… There’s just one itsy, bitsy thing we need to discuss…” Bill pulled something out from behind his back; it was the glass vase from his room. “The matter of payment, of course~”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so our story ends. Dipper has permanently escaped reality by giving his soul to Cipher. He is now one of many other permanent guests at the hotel, while his soul has become part of Cipher's collection...
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the fic! I know a lot of this was probably way darker than the other stuff I've written, but that's what happens when you write an AU based on a very dark series. And yes, I will be writing more of this AU, specifically one or maybe two sequals, and a series of one-shots. If anyone has watched the entire series of Gregory Horror Show, you've probably picked up that most of this fic was based on the first season, and you can probably guess that the sequal will be based on the second season. The maybe-sequal will be based on the third season, if I decide to write it, and the one-shots will have a similar feel to the Bloody Karte shorts from Gregory Horror Show, which focus a lot more on the dark comedy and generally lacks most of the horror aspects.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading through all this! I sincerely hope you enjoyed most, if not all of it:3 If you liked it and want to show me that you did, I would love to receive a comment from you:3


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